The untimely death of 18-year old Rene Baterbonia and 21-year old Divine Adili has shocked many Filipinos, including me.
And as the grieving continued, there were views that the military-type training the Ateneo collegiate basketball team had to undergo was not necessary at all My opinion is – it was NEVER necessary. Let me repeat – it was never necessary.
And looking at how Baterbonia played, I think it was not necessary to subject him to that type of training, as he relied more on skill and finesse. Unless somebody wanted Baterbonia to play like Charles Barkley, Ben Wallace, or Dennis Rodman, then that type of training would have been absolutely necessary. But then, Baterbonia was not the “balyador” or banger type of player.
I also reviewed a few of Adili’s plays and he hardly resembled a version of Barkley, Wallace or Rodman.
Maybe the “traditional” Filipino basketball style also has to be blamed, or players banging bodies and relying on tough one-on-one plays.
But even if Baterbonia and Adili had to excel in an environment where banging bodies and elbows are sometimes thrown, basketball is never a “buwis buhay” type of game, or the risk of losing life or even limb from a basketball game is close to impossible.
And most sports are never about risking life, such as tennis, volleyball, athletics, among many others.
So, why train athletes for sports that do not risk lives in a manner that would risk their lives? Like what happened to Baterbonia and Adili? Of the many sports, two stand out as getting one foot in the grave: Boxing and MMA.
But has military-type training been the norm for boxing and MMA fighters? Hell, no. Especially at the elite level.
In fact, I have heard a few accounts of managers and promoters throwing out of the gym sparring mates deemed “dangerous” to their prized fighters. This means that elite fighters need to be protected from dangerous forms of training.
The reason is simple: An injured boxer or MMA fighter is dead meat before the opening bell.
So, why expose athletes to a type of training that would endanger both life and limb? And how many basketball players play as if their life was on the line? Rodman comes into mind. Yet Rodman was not a “manufactured” mad man – his insanity was natural.
And I never heard of accounts he did military-like training.
Rather, he trained with weights, did plyometrics, among others.
On the part of boxers or MMA fighters, I have not heard those at the elite level doing military-like training, especially in the open seas.
And I can just imagine the horrifying reaction of Freddie Roach if Manny Pacquiao’s new conditioning coach insists Pacquiao sprint 200 meters out to sea and back in a coast
in Baler, Aurora. Roach will surely take out a baseball bat to beat the brains out of that person insisting on that.
And there lies the other dimension of this issue – Pacquiao and combat fighters of his stature who are sure to earn their managers and promotional outfits millions of dollars are never subjected to training where loss of life is a possibility. Only rigorous training. Why? Because they are already “million-dollar” or “million-peso” athletes.
Taking this argument a step further, if I were Alex Eala’s manager, I will pull out a three-feet long pipe if her newly- hired conditioning coach will require here to run out to the open sea and back for the sake of “getting tough.” So, what if Baterbonia and Adili had good managers who saw their million-peso potential, and had a big say in the way they should be trained and handled every step of the way? One who would vehemently oppose subjecting their wards to training that would endanger their lives, knowing their future value also based on non-monetary terams.
Much better if the Ted Baldwin and the coaching staff thought like that.
Both would surely be alive today.
