ALASKA Milk President and CEO Wilfred Steven Uytengsu shared life lessons he learned as an athlete and later on as an executive during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night at One Esplanade.
He said politics and nepotism play a big part in Philippine sports. Uytengsu was only too aware of this after he missed the national swimming team in the Southeast Asian Games and in the Olympics.
He recalled that he should have made the cut to the national team in the 1981 Southeast Asian Games. But because of politics and favoritism, coaches did not include him in the national squad.
From the spectators’ stands, he watched members of the squad miss medal after medal in the events that he was supposed to be in: the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly and two relays.
“Had I swum in those events, I would ended up having two silver medals. I learned that politics and nepotism are two of the evils that have, and continue to affect Philippine sports,” said Uytengsu.
While in college at University of Southern California, he watched teammates from his varsity team compete and win medals.
Uytengsu said he trained hard and he would have been honored to be given a chance to join the national team.
But the experiences he gained while training to be a swimmer made him a better person when he finally got to organize a team in the Philippine Basketball Association, and later launch a world-class triathlon competition in the country.
“I learned about the importance of having great work ethic, commitment and sacrifice,” said Uytengsu during his keynote speech after he was named the Executive of the Year for his contributions to Philippine sports during the PSA Awards Night.
After he reflected on his past as an athlete, Uytengsu later discussed his experiences as an organizer of the Ironman Triathlon series in the country and the team’s loss to the Beermen in the recent PBA finals.
On the Ironman triathlon, the things he learned helped him make the event one of the most sought after events in Asia today.
As for the PBA finals, Uytengsu felt that Alaska simply lost to a better team.
“The truth is that San Miguel is extremely talented and 10 deep. We had our chances in Game 4 and in Game 5. In Game 6, I didn’t think we gave ourselves the best shot, and in Game 7, I think we simply felt overwhelmed,” said Uytengsu.