It has been said repeatedly that players win games, and coaches lose them.
Success in sports always boils down to having the best of both worlds: the best player and best coaching staff put together.
In real terms, that will not always be the case.
In a team with multiple athletes and a set of coaches and trainers, success varies from one to another. Some take the victory podium while others lose and whine about how they tried their best.
The coach understands why the winning athletes deserve the lion’s share of the credit.
They are the kinds that pour their hearts out in training, who take the extra mile to perfect their skills, and who remain humble and keep believing in their coaches even when the chips are down.
And the coaches? They only want the best for their athletes.
They are the father, mother, manager, psychologist, medical assistant, nutritionist, caregiver, masseur, and utility boy all rolled into one. They will do everything for their athletes to emerge victorious.
They are the first to celebrate when their players win and the first to cry when they crumble in defeat.
And they most willingly take the sideline when the battle had all cleared and their athletes take center stage in the midst of the jubilation.
In the recent Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, the nation celebrated the victory of 227 medalists: 52 gold, 70 silver, and 105 bronze.
Monetary rewards await the medalists with the gold winner receiving a P300,000 bonus, P150,000 for silver, and P60,000 for bronze, under the Athletes and Coaches Incentive Act.
The coaches will receive half of what the athletes will be getting in bonuses.
In a recent courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte, the athletes received extra bonuses with the gold worth P250,000, silver medalists P150,000, and bronze medalists P100,000 for bronze medalists each. Coaches were not included.
On top of that, each of them received the Order of Lapu-Lapu Kamagi medal. Coaches were not included.
The Philippine Olympic Committee also announced that it will hand out its own cash bonuses totaling more than P11 million to the winning athletes, broken down as follow: P100,000 for gold, P30,000 for silver, and P10,000 for bronze in individual events. Coaches are not included.
Maybe not in monetary form, but coaches deserve equal recognition, too.