PSC to resort to unconventional means to find potential talent for national training pool

Hard-pressed on finding outstanding athletes, the Philippine Sports Commission will try a bizarre approach to discover talents.

Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia hinted that the sports-funding agency would resort to unconventional means to gain raw talent for the national training pool.

Garcia gave an inkling that it will not be another grassroots search program similar to the Batang Pinoy, Palarong Pambansa and the Philippine National Games.

“We will start something and announce it soon. I’m sure there are talents out there, we just have to find them,” said Garcia.

He said the PSC would embark on a contest where young Filipino kids with amazing talent would be asked to show off their skills.

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“We’ll have some sort of a contest like Talentadong Pinoy. Let them all come out,” said Garcia.

The PSC chief didn’t divulge the details, but the Inquirer learned that kids and their parents, here and abroad, will be enticed to video the child’s extraordinary skill and post it in a website to be facilitated by the agency.

A source said kids who stand out in the initial screening via the internet would advance to the contest proper to be shown nationwide in television.

“There’s a Filipino child out there with a freakish ability to jump very high, balance himself on a rope or even shoot a moving target using a slingshot with accuracy,” said the source.

The PSC is deadset on strengthening its grassroots program even further following another disastrous campaign in the Olympics.

“You cannot create a good athlete overnight. It takes time to develop athletes and give them full support. Unless we support them, the result will be the same,” said Garcia.

For the fourth straight Olympics, the Philippines came home without a medal from London.  /inquirer