Project dinila

The never winning condition

We are back after taking a break from jumping from one place to another. The story of these athletes is not an easy thing to write. I’m blessed with a fully functioning body and mind and I can’t imagine how hard for them to be in this point of their lives

These athletes gave their best on that day, After long hours of training and conditioning their body, preparing their mental muscles along the way. They might win something, first, second or third. But each and every one of them gained a bit more of something, a bit more confidence, a bit more challenge, a bit more courageous, and a bit better than before.

It’s about the small steps that we take every single day. A small win over the long and protracted struggle. It might not be seen by many as an achievement, but we must tell ourselves, we will be better than yesterday at mastering what really matters to us.

I moved to the next field and saw someone starching and conditioning their body before the big throw. It’s something that we might not be able to see eye to eye, except they know what it means to improve their chances of scoring an extra bit of millimeter, a single nudge toward, a push toward achieving their goal, or trying again next time around.

It’s something that can’t be expressed through an image. The bellowing of their confidence, the perfected repetition of their movement, the grace of their recovery and, above all of those, the rush of adrenaline that pumped into their system before knowing what if I did something a bit different. These sporting thing are not for the weak of mind.

After switching my lens, I panned my view across the field and spotted these athletes competing in Paralympic cycling. It’s not fast per se, but they exerted their body and a single determination to keep all three wheels on the ground, all the time to gain maximum traction and speed.

It required immense upper body strength, superhuman coordination and single mindedness to aim for the finish line. Some of them missed a millisecond of imbalance distribution of weight that caused them to lose the race, but they kept on going. They kept on paddling until the finish line, before the coach carried their tricycle back to their starting grid to start it all over again.

It’s the end of my story. It’s not something that I can put down in writing or images, it needs something larger than this, some bigger production to capture their emotion, their struggle and their lack of acknowledgement from the government or their peers. These athletes must be celebrated and given centre stage for them to tell their story and encourage more folks to come out of their phone and do a bit of something for themselves. In the meantime, we can wipe the slate clean to make a new room for a new leaf to grow.

Potramk 2025