Ni Edwin Rollon

Empleyadong lasing, patay matapos sapakin ng ginising na katrabaho

EDUKASYON at malasakit.

Ito ang dalawang panuntunan na ginamit bilang pundasyon ng mga dating Olympian at swimming coach upang maitatag ang Congress of Philippine Aquatics (COPA) Inc.

At sa maagang pagkakataon, nasubok ang samahan nang bumulaga hindi lamang sa bansa bagkus sa buong mundo ang pandemic na coronavirus (COVID-19).

Bawat pamilyang Pinoy ay naapektuhan at lahat ng sector ay tinamaan ng hapis dahil sa pansamantalang pagtigil ng komersyo na tunay namang nakaapekto sa ekonomiya dulot nang ipinatupad na Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) sa nakalipas na mahigit dalawang buwan.

Kabilang sa apektado ang hanap-buhay ng mga swimming coach na nakasalalay ang kabuhayan sa sports.

“We were about to roll out a series of seminars in different parts of the country for the benefit of our coach friends, but the pandemic hit and we had to postpone all the plans,” pahayag ni Eric Buhain, two-time Olympian at SEA Games swimming record holder sa napagwagihang pitong gintong medalya sa 1991 edition.

“Our focus then shifted to helping our bother/sister coaches in this difficult time by reaching out and knocking on the doors of our friends of COPA like Coach Wilfred Arzaga and Coach Ike Buan for the COPA Amelioration Program (CAP) which we shared with 109 out of the first 113 COPA team members which formed the first batch of CAP recipients. The 4 team coaches, with love and generosity for their co-coaches who are more in need, decided to waive their own share,” sambit ni Buhain.

Iginiit ni Buhain, nagsilbi ring Chairman ng Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) at Games and Amusement Board (GAB) sa administrasyon ng Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo na patuloy ang asosasyon sa pagkalap ng pondo upang madagdagan pa ang maitutulong sa mga swimming coach.

“Sa ganitong sitwasyon, talagang pamilya ang unang magtutulungan. Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga kapwa ko swimming coach at madali naming naorganisa ang pagbibigay ng ayuda,” pahayag ni Buhain.

“Our beginnings may have been just a simple idea from the 5 of us friends, Chito Rivera, Darren Evangelista, Richard Gonzales Luna, Joel Esquivel and me to come together and organize small talks about our experiences in the sport we all love which is swimming.

“I remember we started the year with organizing thru Samahang Manlalangoy ng Pilipinas (SMP) the technical seminar conducted by our friend Richard and we were overwhelmed when almost 100 coaches attended the seminar.

“A few weeks later, we then decided to conduct another seminar focusing on strength and conditioning through the kindness of our friend Coach Albert Rolle of College of St Benilde which was also very successful both in attendance and in information learned. We then decided that we would now try our best to share the same information nationwide - thus COPA was born,” ayon kay Buhain.

“Today, we are 145 teams and still growing as the days go by. And we will continue to welcome everyone interested to learn and improve themselves and believe in these 2 words - Education and Sharing.

“It is humbling for us to witness that we all came together at this of the pandemic when we are all having the most difficult time in our lives. For us to be able to overcome whatever difficulties we are experiencing, and still bond together as one swimming community, i truly believe that there is nothing in this world that can stop Philippine swimming in achieving our common goals - not even a pandemic,” aniya.