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‘Ghost coaches’ next in PSC’s list as massive revamp continues

10/13/2009

The Philippine Sports Commission will rid its list of “ghost coaches” and non-performing mentors to free some budget which PSC chairman Harry Angping could be spent for the athletes.

“If there are ghost employees and ghost athletes, there are also ghost and non-performing coaches,” Angping said in a gathering with reporters over the weekend. “We must stop this system. The government is losing millions of pesos for the salary of these coaches. It is a malpractice that has to be stopped.”

Angping said starting next year, the agency will launch a massive revamp among local coaches to remove those whose performance has dipped. Those who will be retained will be sent abroad while some of them will be tutored by world-class foreign mentors whom the PSC will hire.

The PSC will also classify the coaches into two groups: the athletes’ coaches and the coaches’ coaches. Both groups, however, should be qualified and heavily endorsed by the national athletes.

“Not everybody will be able to coach,” he said. “Some former athletes were hired to coach after their playing career even if they are not qualified. It shouldn’t be the case. A coach should be a coach on the basis of his capacity as a coach and not just because he was a former athlete.”

“A national coach should be qualified — that’s my fist and foremost requirement.”

The PSC’s move was ignited by a series of reports from the athletes that their mentors were not competent to handle the national training program.

Angping cited at least three national sports associations (NSAs) but begged off from revealing them.

“Obviously, there is connivance within the association,” he said. “I know the NSA presidents are aware of this malpractice, but they do not do anything because they are also getting something in return.”

The PSC is spending roughly P15 million a month, or P180 million a year, for the allowance of close to a thousand national athletes and coaches — both foreign and local. Julius Manicad