Hindi na mapipigilan ang Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) sa pagsasagawa ng 2015 Philippine National Open-Invitational Athletics Championships sa Marso 19 hanggang 22 sa San Luis Sports Complex sa Sta. Cruz, Laguna.
Ito ang inihayag ni PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico sa lingguhang Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum sa Shakey’s Malate kasama ang mga tutulong na Amerikanong coaches na sina Dick Beardsley, Wilfred Schnier, Jim Lafferty, ang atletang si Caleb Stuart at Secretary General na si Nonoy Unso.
Sina Schnier at Beardsley ay nakatakdang magtungo sa San Luis Sports Complex upang magmasid at agad na obserbahan ang mga miyembro ng pambansang koponan para sa inaasam na makagawa ng isang detalyadong long term, short term at midterm na programa na hindi lamang sa PATAFA kundi sa buong bansa.
“We are tasked to provide a long term, short and midterm program and leave a system that your country can use for the coming years,” sabi ni Schnier, kareretiro lamang sa University of Cincinnati at nakapagbigay sa Estados Unidos ng isang pilak at isang ginto sa paggiya sa kanyang dalawang estudyante.
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“We will be going to your National Open in Laguna to assess the athletes and observe first their performance. As a coach, we are following a principle of “start where you are, used what you have and what do you have, and do what you can do,” sinabi pa ni Schnier.
“I believed in the Filipino spirit, that is well-known in the world and that is where you can start. What you can do is to know that you can become a superpower in the SEA Games and do what you can is to know every possibility that you can make for yourself,” giit pa ni Schnier.
Umaasa naman si Juico na malaki ang maitutulong nina Schnier na siyang magtuturo sa lahat ng track events habang si Beardsley ang mangangalaga sa mga long distance runner sa malapit na kampanya ng PATAFA sa SEA Games.
“We are very optimistic that with the best athletes we are now, we can surpass our best campaign 36 years ago when we won 12 gold medals in Manila SEA Games. We are looking at 8 gold plus two coming from Caleb,” pahayag ni Juico. “We never know, there are other who can contribute.”
