2 weeks ago
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MANILA, Philippines — If you were to ask US football star Cam Bynum, the Philippines will “for sure” be able to bring a flag football team to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
The Filipino-American Bynum, a starter in the safety position for the Minnesota Vikings in the National Football League (NFL), was recently in town for the fourth edition of his Camp Beezy training camp.
During this year’s Camp Beezy Elite, 75 players from across the country and Asia were trained in flag football, which also led them to experience “a day in the life of an NFL player.”
And with the recent inclusion of flag football in the Olympics, Bynum told Philstar.com that making it to the Big Games was “the whole goal behind everything that we do.”’
“The first thing we did was, okay, how do we get the players, especially here in the Philippines because that's home, and really spread football through all of Asia to really build up the entire Asian football community? Because there's not a lot of people. It's a smaller community, but it's a strong community,” he told Philstar.com an interview at Buglas Isla Cafe in Alabang, Muntinlupa over the weekend.
“So I think everybody's goal, even before I got here, was to be able to play on a world stage. So once they announced that the Olympics is going to have flag football, everybody was ready and expecting that they're going to be able to train and make it to the Olympics eventually.
“I think just the confidence is there and I just think we need to continue to push the training process and just making sure that we're developing players enough to be able to play in the Olympics and we know that the Philippines will be in the Olympics moving forward too,” he added.
Bynum stressed that he saw a lot of potential among the campers, especially with how hardworking Filipinos are.
“I think we're for sure going to be able to bring a flag football team to the LA Olympics in 2028, solely off the fact that everybody works so hard and is so eager to learn,” he said.
“I think that's the formula for success, the fact that we come out here and we coach certain things, and we go back home and I still see them still doing the drills every single day and see them doing videos and them training hard and working hard to perfect their craft, even when I'm not here,” he said.
This sentiment was echoed by RIESA Management Inc.’s chief operating officer Anthony Raymond, who has partnered with Bynum and the Bynum Faith Foundation to “help expand flag football’s reach in the Philippines.”
Raymond told Philstar.com he strongly believes Filipinos have what it takes to excel in flag football because of the physical attributes.
“I believe our physical attributes, our quickness, our speed, our agility, I believe Filipinos would thrive in the sport. Over the past four or five years in the international flag football scene, it's always been Thailand, Korea, Japan. And I've always wanted to know or mention, we have the same amount of athletes just as them,” he said.
“The only thing is that with the proper coaching, proper fundamentals, techniques, and more educating the country about the sport, I think the Filipinos will thrive and flourish. So, what Cam Bynum and Bynum Faith, what RIESA Management is able to do right now, is to be able to create a little bit of momentum, leading to the Olympics, and actually bring in the proper coaching, the proper support group, the networking.
“We believe that if we start like this and continue this, I think we would have a very challenging, or probably say a very strong Filipino national team that could challenge some of the other Southeast Asian countries in our realm,” he continued.
During the camp, Bynum, like he did in the past, also brought players from the NFL to help him coach.
This, the 26-year-old football player said, would show that it is “bigger than football.”
“We can come and serve people in other countries and do things bigger than football, but also be able to show the people in the community that there's players in the NFL that really care about growing football worldwide, even if they're not Filipino,” Bynum said.
“A few of my friends that have come here aren't Filipino, but they love the things that we're doing here in the Philippines, and they ended up falling in love with the Philippines after that.”
He also relished the opportunity to give back not just to the Philippines, but the Asian community as a whole.
“I just think it's important to let people know that they're being seen and that this community is important. I think bringing NFL players here, at the top of the level in our sport, to really humble ourselves and come and build up this community also."
