Loyzaga perks up PH baseball

FROM boyhood, Chito Loyzaga, son of the country’s greatest basketball player Caloy, and himself a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) superstar after his San Beda and YCO days, has been involved in sports.

Now at 61, he continues to do so but this time in a different sport from basketball as he now the president of the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association (PABA).

I include Chito among the sports friends I have maintained very good relations with even after he retired from the PBA. In fact, when he was commissioner at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) several years ago, he got me to help him as a consultant.

It is also because of his PSC stint that he and another ex-PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez got together, and later on, it was Jolly who got him into the sport to represent the Little League.

It was May of last year though that from being a stakeholder, Chito was elected as PABA president, running unopposed as former head Frank Eizmendi, a handpick by former Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Peping Cojuangco did not contest the election. And among others, the current PABA is amending its by-laws with Chito’s term to end by December 2020 and to hold another election that would coincide with the election at the regional level of the sport, a smart move that also shows Chito has no intention to cling to any position but will continue to serve if elected anew.

Anyway, he has been working on planning the future of baseball here, working with an Excom and Mancom at PABA but focused on the big picture, delegating details to people who are more knowledgeable than him.

Under his leadership, PABA has formed its first ever women’s baseball team.

And for the first time, the women’s national team joined the qualifying tournament in China for the 2020 World Baseball & Softball Confederation with our team bagging the bronze medal.

We beat powerhouse China in that tournament.

For the coming Southeast Asian Games where men’s baseball is included after a long absence, Chito was very clear about his team’s chances, that is, we will win the gold.

When I asked him why he was that confident, he cited the fact that the Philippines emerged champion in the 2018 East Asia Cup and the teams we beat there are the same teams we will face come SEA Games time. Teams entered in the SEA Games are Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Fact is, this weekend, I will be doing my share for our athletes as I will do a free mental strengthening session for the men’s baseball team in Clark as we agreed when I had lunch with Chito a few days ago. The day before, I will be doing a longer session this time in Subic with the national sepak takraw team, no professional fees for me whatsoever, my way of giving back to sports.

Chito also bared his plans for 2020 that will include an active grassroots program nationwide with the initial city tie-ups already identified, a continuous training and international exposure for national teams to be formed next year, training for both coaches and officials, and he wants to ensure that there will be more baseball games played outside of just the UAAP.

This month, he will be going to Japan, which is ranked number one in the world to attend the WSBC meeting there at the same time explore possible tie-ups with Japanese baseball officials.

With all of these ideas and plans, I again volunteered my services to my good friend to help in a planning session to come up with PABA’s 2020 plans and programs. You see, like Chito, I do not see an end in my involvement in sports too.