Sports sciences

Last Friday, two University of the Philippines varsity football players dropped by my office to sell tickets for a fund-raising event.  I asked them what their courses were and both were almost apologetic with their replies. One said, “PE (physical education)lang” and the other “sports science” in a soft voice.

I reacted quickly in Filipino: “Never say ‘lang’ (only) about your course.  PE and sports science are not ‘lang’ courses.”  I then went into a short description of what’s been happening around the world with university degree programs around sports.

I thought I should do an entire column about the sports sciences, and why this field is now one of the most exciting and will become even more important in the years ahead. But first, let me deal with the stereotypes that led our football players to “lang” their courses.

Brain vs brawn

Unfortunately, in the Philippines and in many other countries people still live by “brain versus brawn” and “jocks versus nerd” dichotomies, which divide the world into brainless athletes and brawnless academics.  In many ways society grooms (and dooms) us early: If you seem like a bookworm, parents ply you with more books and laugh or scoff when you try athletics.  Conversely, if you’re the athletic type, parents and teachers presume you will not do too well in academics.

In college, the stereotypes are even worse because schools do give scholarships to varsity players, even if their grades are not too good.  My department, anthropology, often took in varsity players for anthro subjects and even for our degree program, over the opposition of some older faculty members (“utak raketa”, racket brains, protested one).  I’m glad to say we proved those faculty members wrong: The varsity players generally did well in our classes and two football players who took anthropology later became lawyers. (Okay, quit the lawyer jokes now.)

Today there’s growing recognition of multiple intelligences. The psychologist Howard Gardner first proposed his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983, naming eight: spatial, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic.  He later wrote about two other intelligences: the moral and the existential.

I suspect that back in history, persons who were more inclined to the bodily-kinesthetic were actually held in high regard, but were devalued as we began to give a premium to those with logical-mathematical intelligence.

Today we’re seeing more respect for all the intelligences. I’m thinking of the so-called “back doors” to UP, i.e., colleges that do not require the UP College Admission Test (Upcat), which then makes people think it’s easier to get in.

Think again.  These “backdoor” colleges have rigid requirements. To get into the 3-year Certificate of Fine Arts program you need to go through an interview and the college’s talent determination test.

The College of Music is more of a “snob” in describing its requirements: Rather than saying Upcat is not required, it says that those who pass the Upcat “will still have to take and pass the theoretical and talent audition tests.”  And did you know that our bachelor of music degree in UP takes five years to complete, and that’s for a specific field like composition, dance, piano, string instruments?

Let’s get now to the sports sciences, which are taught at UP in the College of Human Kinetics. The college does require Upcat but will accept a lower rating through a Varsity Athletic Admission System (VAAS).  The college offers a certificate in sports studies, a bachelor’s degree in physical education and in sports science, and a post-baccalaureate diploma in exercise and sports science.

The current chancellor of UP Diliman, Dr. Caesar Saloma, is totally committed to developing the campus’ sports program, including putting up a sports complex and more support for our varsity players.

Science and fitness

I’m hoping we’ll also see more development of the degree programs in human kinetics. In other countries there are all kinds of degree programs, undergraduate and graduate, in fields like kinesiology and human performance.  Kinesiology is in fact a premed program in many US universities.

I got extra encouragement to do today’s column when an aunt made a surprise visit Monday morning, flying in from the United States. Originally from Davao City, Margarita Co married one of my uncles, George Lim, and migrated to America. One of  her sons, Allen Lim, has been making waves training the US Olympic biking team as well as such celebrities as Lance Armstrong. He also trained US President George W. Bush, which makes me admire Allen even more. To get to where he is today, Allen took a master’s degree in kinesiology and a PhD in integrative physiology.

The demand for sports science graduates will be coming from all kinds of sectors.  There will still be the traditional demand from schools for PE but developing as part of broader health education.  In colleges, the demand for sports scientists will be for campus health programs as well as for the development of athletes for competition.

Growing health consciousness has led to an explosion of gyms and fitness centers—again, areas where you need trained kinesiologists (and, I should add, physical therapists), who can evaluate a client’s capabilities and limitations before starting a fitness program. Also, there has been a proliferation of resorts and recreational areas—even subdivisions have their own clubhouses now—where, again, you’re going to need people trained in the sports sciences.

Still undeveloped in the Philippines are corporate wellness programs, where large companies put up their own health programs for employees, complete with gyms and lifestyle monitoring programs.

And with the world’s elderly population growing, count on the sports scientists to develop appropriate programs to keep us (yup, I’m in that league now) healthy or, after serious debilitating illnesses strike, to bring us back to health.

Sports science “lang”?  No way.  I can predict that in the future, you’ll have applicants begging to get into the College of Human Kinetics, just as it is already happening with the College of Fine Arts and College of Music. And as we develop more sports scientists, I hope we will see the national sports program developing as well, so we can truly compete internationally.

A final word: look at UP’s Pep Squad, which won the UAAP cheerleading competition for the third year in a row. Talk about rolling in spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic intelligences, with a bit of the logico-mathematical and the linguistic (okay, okay, so I’m stretching the cheering a bit).  The squad has students from different colleges, all of which prove that you can, and should, develop multiple intelligences.

Bragging rights: read more about Allen here:

https://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/magazine/2010/10/allen-lim-makes-sports-science-fun-and-cool/ and listen to him talk about the joys of biking, sports, science and life on: https://www.tedxmilehigh.com/speakers/allen-lim.  (Click on his name to get the video.)