THE 32nd Southeast Asian Games( SEAG) in Cambodia is drawing to a close early next week but based on the medal standings as of Saturday morning, we can kiss goodbye to our hopes of duplicating our 4th place finish in Vietnam.

In fact we will be hard pressed to take 5th place unless our boxers do a perfect 9 of 9 performance, which is possible but not probable.

As of Friday night, I had monitored 31 gold medals, the last one in the 4x400m. men’s relay, and the 4th for athletics, we were in 6th overall, 7 golds behind Singapore, 17 behind Indonesia.

The top three teams are Vietnam with 67 golds, Thailand with 58, and host Cambodia, 56, thanks to its legal but not ethical rules, and I am sure, they will go down as the most unpopular host country.

“Garapalan” would be an apt description of the way they manipulated the rules, particularly in relaxing the rules on naturalized players in basketball,

I just hope that the long dead reason that it was another learning experience does not emerge anymore except for the newer sports, perhaps a better conclusion is the lessons unlearned.

Fact is, a new sport, obstacle course racing delivered 4 gold medals to tie gymnastics and athletics so far in number of golds wonthough I expect boxing to do more than four definitely.

Our athletes did their best, i have no question about that, but athletes can only deliver the optimum based on several factors, different for individual events and for team events in some areas.

What are the success factors in sports?

There is no secret about it, we have seen it already in the past that we should also be past the learning stage, athletes need the proper training, playing and training abroad would be a must, preparation should cover not just physical but mental as well, not to mention nutrition.

Give them the proper equipment and a coaching team, just see how Hidilyn Diaz won her Olympic gold with a complete team behind her, ask CJ Yulo or EJ Obiena, they will givr the same answer. Boxing is a sport here that I salute, they know what they are doing.

Make sure the athletes get the best coaches possible, and give them the right time to prepare, this is crucial in team events where team chemistry is a vital factor in any tean’s performance.

For actual competitions, scouting the opposition is another must do for team officials, whether an individual or team sport.

.Include the playing venue conditions as well, and the lodging and the traffic the food, the weather.

In the case of Filipino athletes who generally come ftom the poorer side, they need to have that peace of mind about their families as a lot of athletes support their respective families.

In short, put the athletes in the best position ever to increase the chances of winning, focused on nothing else but training and performing.

Now tell me, what is not known in the above list? Any coach, any athlete, any official , or a sports leader knows all of the above.

….But then knowing what to do is very different from doing them, and doing them consistently.knoledge without using it is useless knowledge.

And by this time we should have learned these lessons already by heart, unfortunately it is not so.

Men’s basketball and volleyball, two very popular events here, are prime examples of how not to prepare a team in terms of length of time ahead of the competition.

Even the Americans realized it, that you do not pick a team a month before and expect it to play well together compared to teams that have been together for a long time.

But it seems some lesdons simply do not sink in the minds of many sports “leaders.”.

Congratulations to all our athletes. By Lito Cinco