Secret Sports Stories

BAGUIO – Several of the country’s national athletes are deep in preparation here for the Southeast Asian Games. The home base of our muay thai squad, boxing team, mixed martial artists and others like the sambo fighters like the newly rediscovered Mark Mugen Striegl, all call the City of Pines home. The high altitude and isolation were first discovered by the national athletics team in the late 1970’s. Familiar names like all-time greats Lydia de Vega and Isidro del Prado cut their teeth here. Baguio contributed mightily to our Golden Age of Sports. And that contribution continues to this day.

The production team is here to interview our female boxers and muay thai fighters for the online sports channel Women Who Win, in aid of promoting women in sports. We are also gathering stories for Basketball Universe PHL, and preparing for a new project launching on Dec. 6.

“Secret Sports Stories” will delve into the deeper stories in sports lore. There is a gold mine of unexplored sports phenomena, apocryphal stories, and urban myths just waiting to be proven or disproven. Who was really the first Filipino athlete to win an Olympic gold medal? Which dubious records in athletics were inevitably expunged because the winners were found to have used drugs? Why have past events organized in the Philippines cost so much? What has happened to many of our legendary boxers who’ve retired? How have the answers to all of these questions influenced sports?

We also investigate the secrets of some of the greatest athletes who ever lived all over the globe. From barefoot marathon runners to our favorite basketball players, how did they get to the peak of their profession? What is it like post career? Why do many of them choose to represent other countries or make a living overseas? Most importantly, what makes them so relatable to the general public? These are questions just begging to be answered, but are never investigated.

Baguio seems to be as good a place as any to start. Deep in history, old in sports, away from the large cities, home to homegrown champions. This is where progress and greatness are linear, where roots can be directly traced to the point of origin. They’re very a few complications when it comes to sports emanating from Baguio. Perhaps it is precisely because it is set apart from alleged civilization, that it reveals the truth about sport and the true character of athletes.

Bottom line is that we all know the stories and the personalities, but we rarely know the origins, the secrets behind the curtain. Now we will find out together the beginnings, the endings and the meanings of the people and events that marked our memories.

Secret Sports Stories launches on the evening of Dec. 6 on YouTube and Facebook.