THE Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) online coaching seminar begins on Monday and seeks to continue with its goal of enhancing further local coaches’ competencies and skills and establishing a national standard for sports coaching in the country.

A project under the Philippine Sports Institute’s (PSI) Sports Education and Training Program, the National Sports Coaching Certification Course (NSCCC) was piloted in Tagum City two years ago and in the cities of Legazpi and Davao in 2019.

Organizers said Visayas will have the first go at the online coaches’ certification, with all of the 1,090 slots already full.

“The present situation in the country should not deter us from continuing our programs and services to the sports community, specifically in enhancing the competencies of our coaches in the schools and the LGUs (local government units),” said PSC oversight commissioner for Visayas Ramon Fernandez as he spoke of their efforts amid the ongoing situation with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Sports coaches of elementary and high school student teams in Visayas will be the initial batch of online learners for the course’s Level 1 modules on Sports Philosophy, Sports Pedagogy, Sports Psychology, Sports Physiology, Talent Identification, and Sports Ethics.

Lecturers will be PSC-PSI sports education dean Prof. Henry Daut, PSC-PSI sports psychology head Dr. Karen Katrina Trinidad, PSC-PSI sports physiology head Prof. Josephine Joy Reyes, PSC-PSI sports specialist Prof. Luis Serafin Cosep, and Fr. Fonz Suico, CSSR. A blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning methods will be applied through the use of Google Meet and Google Classroom tools.

Passers of the Level 1 pilot staging in Legazpi and Davao, meanwhile, are also expected to continue with Level 2 online, while a separate course curriculum for coaches of sports for the differently abled is being planned for launch this November.

Luzon will have their sessions for Region 1 and CAR from Aug. 10 to 13, while Mindanao will have theirs for Region 10 from Aug. 17 to 20.

Meanwhile, the PSC shared that its “golden dreams” in the Tokyo Olympics remains a priority despite the pandemic as it continues to work with the different national sports associations (NSAs) in crafting proper training resumption guidelines.

Health professionals from the PSC-MSAS (Medical Scientific Athletes Services) unit started meeting NSAs on July 21 to discuss updated protocol and minimum health standards of training venues with each concerned NSA. The meetings are scheduled to last until July 29.

“The PSC recognizes that our Olympic hopefuls need to maintain momentum and they do that by going back to focused training,” said National Training Director Marc Velasco.

Right now, the Philippines is assured of having at least four representatives in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, namely, EJ Obiena (pole vault), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), and Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno (boxing).

Local sports officials, however, are upbeat that more athletes could join the four in the lead-up to the Games. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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