Inna Palacios sinabing inspirasyon ng women’s national football team si Hidilyn Diaz

Philippine national women’s football team goalkeeper Inna Palacios/ARMIN P. ADINA

Philippine national women’s football team goalkeeper Inna Palacios/ARMIN P. ADINA

UUKIT ng kasaysayan ang Pilipinas sa pagtuntong nito sa football World Cup sa unang pagkakataon ngayong yaon, at dahil ito sa pagsipa ng national women’s team sa koponan ng Chinese Taipei sa Asian Cup noong isang taon.

Sinabi ng goalkeeper na si Inna Palacios na isa pang pambihirang Pilipina ang naghikayat sa kanila na mangarap nang malaki.

“Women fight very hard to be seen, and sports is such a male-dominated industry. And for women to excel and do good, like Hidilyn Diaz winning the first gold medal in the Olympics, that’s just inspiring. And I can tell you, she inspired the whole team. That also gave us a push,” sinabi ni Palacios sa Inquirer sa isang panayam sa Zalora 11th birthday party na ipinagdiwang sa Z-train pop-up store sa Greenbelt Fashion Square sa Makati City noong Marso 18.

“Seeing other people do the same thing, and fighting for that cause, to grow their respective sports here in the country, that gives you a lot of motivation to follow it also,” pagpapatuloy pa ng 29-taong-gulang na atleta, na dumalo sa pagdiriwang bilang kasapi ng “Team Visa,” na nakipag-kolaborasyon para sa okasyon kasama ang adidas.

Para kay Palacios, mahihikayat ang mga batang babae na ipagpatuloy ang hilig nila dahil sa mga babaeng atleta. “I guess it’s important that they know that they really can do anything they want, anything they wish. And they shouldn’t let anybody else say otherwise,” ibinahagi niya.

Sinabi niyang kamakailan lang niya natuklasan ang kapangyarihan ng tinig niya, na sa pamamagitan ng paglalaro niya ay matutulak ang mga bata at mga babae na gawin ang minimithi nila. “In reality, it was the same thing that happened to me when I was a kid. I looked up to someone, I saw a bronze medal from [the Southeast Asian] Games from my coach, that gave me something to dream about,” ibinahagi ni Palacios.

Sinabi niyang may higit na malalim na kahulugan na ang paglalaro niya. “I think me being seen, being here with them, and for them to see that I can be reachable, that I can also be attainable, I think it’s very powerful. And I think that allows them to dream bigger, because we’re doing this for them,” pagpapatuloy niya.

Ngunit sinabi ni Palacios na maliban sa pagkilala, kinakailangan ng mga babaeng atleta na may mamuhunan sa kanila at sa larangang kinabibilangan nila. Dapat ding balewalain ng mga manonood ang kasarian ng atleta, at gustuhin ang napapanood dahil sa naipamamalas na husay sa field o court. “Whether that’s a male or a female, sports is sports, it doesn’t matter. It should be about the quality of the sport, not about who’s playing it. We need to change that mindset,” ipinaliwanag niya.

Tinukoy din ni Palacios ang pagiging instrumento ng sports upang makaahon ang mga Pilipino, sa pamamagitan ng mga scholarship sa mga atleta na nagbigay ng daan upang makakuha sila ng magandang trabahong nakatulong sa kani-kanilang mga pamilya. Ngunit sinabi niyang kailangang makapagbigay din ang Philippine sports ng oportunidad sa mga atleta na pagkakaitaan ang paglalaro, hindi lamang sa basketball at volleyball.

“I think Philippine sports, in general, really deserves so much more. We need to push further and say ‘you can be a player as long as you want.’ You can be a professional player for as long as you want, there’s an actual job for you. We need to get to that level to be able to really sustain this sports industry here in this country,” aniya.

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