All-time great Filipino bowlers: PHL Institute of Sports to improve athlete skills, mental toughness

All-time great Filipino bowlers Bong Coo and Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno (Pictured) are praising the Philippine Institute of Sports (PIS) initiated by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as the science-based program will enhance the skills and talents of Filipino athletes. (Photo: Dixie Puyat/ Wikipedia)

MANILA –All-time great Filipino bowlers Bong Coo and Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno are praising the Philippine Institute of Sports (PIS) initiated by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as the science-based program will enhance the skills and talents of Filipino athletes.

“Its about time, sports science is all we need,” said Coo, the first Filipino athlete listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in bowling. She and Nepomuceno are also among the inaugural members to the International Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis Missouri in 1993.

Coo said the Philippines is already behind in adopting sports science and the scientific approach in fitness nutrition.

“This move by the PSC is very awesome.” added Coo, who was named one of the “Greatest International Bowlers of All-Time” by the prestigious Bowlers Journal International and among the “Top 24 International Bowlers of All-Time” by the Bowlers Journal International edition.

During their competitive prime, Coo said that she and Nepomuceno went to their respective doctors and sports psychologists to prime up their competition toughness.

“But with PHL Institute of Sports, meron ng pupuntahan ang ating mga atleta, I think we are all moving forward na,“ she said.

On his part, six-time World Ten-pin bowling Champion Nepomuceno said the Philippine Institute of Sports “is just what Philippine sports need. This is the only thing we lack.”

He praised the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for establishing the PIS saying, “all the advance countries that produce results have their own Sports Institutes.”

Paeng is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and the only bowling athlete in the world who has received the prestigious International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) President’s Trophy and considered the Greatest International Bowler of All Time.

“It’s good the (PIS) is taking off,” said Paeng who is now looking forward on how the PIS system would work.

Topping the PIS program is the Talent Identification Program (TIP) or Long Term Athlete Development Program (LTADP) primarily to identify young budding athletes and para-athletes and provide them support in developing their skills in sports.

The institute also covers Athlete Career Education Program to chart their professional career growth and provide assistance to access an educational degree.