Since the lockdowns began last March 2020 to help control the spread of the global coronavirus pandemic, only a few athletes and teams have undergone physical training and played in face-to-face competitions.
Many athletes and sports organizations have done their activities online, in line with the physical and social distancing protocols mostly set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
This has led to what is now commonly known as a sports “bubble”, wherein competing sports teams stay isolated from the general public during a series of games, and which includes accommodations, amenities, and the playing venue, where games are held without spectators in attendance.
Following the success of the “NBA bubble” inside Disney World in Orlando, Florida, many sports organizations in the country were encouraged to follow the example set by the said league.
And with officials of the NBA willing to share their knowledge, the Philippine Basketball Association started to set up one inside Clark Development Corporation in Clark, Pampanga.
“We are very much aware and well connected to the PBA. We have shared our profiles with them already, and we are disseminating this widely to many leagues and the world,” said Scott Levy, the executive vice president and managing director of NBA Asia.
Levy’s inputs and discussions with PBA officials led to the holding of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Angeles University Foundation in Angeles City, Pampanga starting on October 11, 2020.
Upon entrance to the PBA bubble, players, officials and other team personnel had to go through COVID-19 swab tests, with results released a day or two after.
As they waited for the swab results to come back, players spent their downtime inside their hotel rooms.
When the results finally came out, no player tested positive for the deadly disease, paving for the pro league to go on with its All-Filipino conference.
The league concluded in December with Barangay Ginebra being crowned as champion, and no one testing positive of the virus, which was an achievement in itself.
For amateur sports
For the last nine months, the physical training of national and student-athletes alike still has to begin, even though they have already been conditionally allowed to resume their activities.
To make this happen, the Philippine Sports Commission issued a strict 10-point guideline on the safety and health protocols that must be followed to the letter, aimed at preventing the transmission of the coronavirus infection to concerned athletes and coaches.
Chairman William Ramirez said if these instructions laid down by the PSC are not complied with, sporting activities will not be allowed to take place.
“Sa pananaw ng PSC, kapag isa lang ang na-infect, isasara namin sila,” said Ramirez.
“If they are not able to observe (the guidelines), they will not be allowed,” added Ramirez.
The PSC, in coordination with the Department of Health and the Commission on Higher Education, has consulted the national sports associations and schools regarding the resumption of training in amateur sports since October. But for now, many national athletes have stuck to virtual training, while others have gone to the provinces or other countries to do their own set of workouts to prepare for national and international meets.
Last October, the guidelines paving the way for student-athletes to train physically at the collegiate level were revealed.
Olympic training
In the early days of January, members of the national boxing team have started entering the Olympic training bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
Women’s boxer Nesthy Petecio, who is seeking to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the featherweight division, led the early birds, which also included men’s team members Marjon Pianar and Junmilardo Ogayre. They were joined Carlo Paalam, Marvin Tabamo, John Paul Panuayan, Mario Fernandez, Aira Villegas, Analyn Cellon, and Josie Gabuco.
Irish Magno, who had already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, followed with other national squad members Ian Clark Bautista, James Palicte, Jere Dela Cruz, and Riza Pasuit.
Members of the national karate and taekwondo teams also joined the Calamba bubble, where they will be doing their physical workouts in isolation for the next 90 days to get ready for their respective Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s basketball squad has also been training in Calamba.
Training abroad and online tournament
There are many Filipino athletes who are currently training and competing while based abroad.
There’s pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, who has been in Formia, Italy for more than a year.
Obiena has been training for the Tokyo Olympics, preparing with his coach Vitaly Petrov and training partner Thiago Braz da Silva.
Meanwhile, 15-year-old tennis phenom Alex Eala is under development by the Rafa Nadal Academy, in Mallorca, Spain, joining professional tennis competitions in Europe.
Seven-foot-three Kai Sotto was in the United States for years, training with the NBA G-League through coach Brian Shaw. He went home recently to join the Gilas Pilipinas practice sessions in Calamba in preparation for the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Boxer Eumir Marcial is preparing for the Tokyo Olympics, training at the Wild Card gym of Freddie Roach. He recently won his first fight as a pro.
Gymnast Carlos Yulo is in Tokyo to also prepare for the coming Olympics, while weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz is in Malaysia, getting ready to join her last qualifying competition for the Tokyo games.
James de los Santos, on the other hand, took advantage of the various online tournaments and forged an amazing winning streak that had him being crowned as the world’s no. 1 e-kata karateka.
SEA Games athletes
The Philippine Olympic Committee appointed Philippine Sports Commission commissioner Ramon Fernandez as chef de mission of the national delegation for the coming 31st Southeast Asian Games.
“We are meeting with the POC leadership. And we are pencil-pushing and reviewing what sports will be played,” said Fernandez.
Philippine Sports Commission National Training Director Marc Velasco is also closely coordinating with the IATF in a bid to get more athletes back into physical training.
“The training must be in a bubble set-up, especially for contact sports,” said Velasco. “We want to field a competitive team for all scheduled games. We know how important it is to resume formal training. However, we also find ourselves in unique times at the moment and we work on what we can and are allowed to do.”
There was an effort for NSAs to have their athletes go into physical training independently. But the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus has pushed back plans to have members of the national athletics team go into physical training.
They were supposed to go into a training camp bubble at the New Clark City Athletics stadium for two months.
Instead, the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, led by its president Philip Ella Juico, will go on with the workouts in February.
“Because of the documentary requirements that emerged due to the COVID-19 variant, our athletes will have to undergo swabbing seven times,” said Juico.
Aside from athletics, the sports of baseball, fencing, and gymnastics which are set to get their athletes ready for the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games, are looking for other places as training venues as the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, the Philsports Arena in Pasig City, the Teacher’s Camp in Baguio and the Inspire ports Academy in Calamba, Laguna are not available.
Two gymnasiums inside the RMSC facilities are being used to quarantine coronavirus patients. The multipurpose arena in Philsports is also reserved for such a purpose, while the three NSAs of karatedo, taekwondo and boxing, and the Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team are already busy with their workouts in Calamba. On the other hand, the Teacher’s Camp in Baguio is undergoing renovation.
Waiting for these venues to become ready will take time, prompting NSAs to look for alternative venues.
Velasco noted that the national fencing team will do their preparations in Ormoc City, with POC second vice president and Mayor Richard Gomez taking care of their needs.
On the other hand, the national gymnastics squad has gone ahead by doing their activities at a hotel in Makati City.
Collegiate bubble training
Guidelines have been crafted at the collegiate level following an incident last August involving the alleged training done by University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers men’s basketball team in Sorsogon at a time when face to face training wasn’t still allowed. It was found out later that the UST Tigers were just involved in farming and piggery.
As a result of the brouhaha, guidelines were written last October, paving the way for student-athletes to train physically at the collegiate level.
Under the proposal submitted by the Technical Working Group formed by the Commission on Higher Education, these activities should take place under a bubble, and limited to just 14 days.
An age restriction of 15 years old and above has been set for the bubble training to be organized by each member school. Training must be done in isolated facilities inside their respective campuses, and if their location is under General Community Quarantine or Modified General Community Quarantine.
For a bubble to be put up, each varsity team, not just the school, is required to first submit a Collegiate Training Activities Certificate of Compliance.
And it has to have the recommendations of both the school’s athletic director and school president.
CHED chairman Prospero de Vera said that with the guidelines out, competitive activities from among the many leagues will soon be possible.
“Now, if we do a good job in implementing this with the protocols, the next logical step would be to think of the opening of sports competitions,” said de Vera.
But league officials in the NCAA said competitions for them will only happen some three or four months after a “new normal” situation is established, and a coronavirus vaccine is already available and distributed.
UAAP officials said their schedule of opening for competitions are still up in their air, given the present situation.
