PBA on-court team training set to be delayed
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
THE scheduled resumption of on-court team training in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is set to be delayed as the league is still waiting for the administrative order from pertinent government agencies that would green-light the return of activities.
Targeted to begin on Wednesday, July 22, the on-court team training may be moved to start next week as the league is expecting to receive a copy of the administrative order within this week.
“I had a talk with Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Baham Mitra Thursday. He expects to get the administrative order this week,” PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial was quoted as saying by the league website on Monday.
Despite the delay, Mr. Marcial said they are still upbeat of team training finally pushing through.
In principle, the PBA’s return for some activities had been approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious after the league submitted its proposed guidelines and protocol for a gradual return to on-court training.
But PBA ball teams still cannot proceed with their workouts until the release of the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) by the GAB, Department of Health and the Philippine Sports Commission.
The JAO contains the implementing guidelines governing the conduct of professional and nonprofessional sports training while the country is under community quarantine brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The league is angling to resume some activities, beginning with the on-court team training, progressing to scrimmages, then eventually returning to competition after the league season was suspended on March 11.
Before teams can start with on-court training, however, their players must undergo the first of a series of swab testing, which the league hopes to complete this week.
During the on-court training, players are expected to abide by the “closed circuit” method that has them confining their travel as much as possible to home-to-practice facility and back.
But if the players have to go somewhere else they have to make a log entry of it and inform the health officer chosen by the team to ensure proper tracing.
Violation of the imposed closed circuit method would merit a P5,000 fine on the initial offense, which would continue to rise for successive offenses.
Protocol for players are also in place during the workouts themselves, including those pertaining to proper distancing and hygiene. Failure to comply with them accompanies a P20,000 fine on the first offense and a higher penalty in the event of continued violation. The workouts, which limit only six individuals on the court, including four players, at a time, will also be overseen by the team’s health officer.
The PBA has not set a definite date yet on when it would resume the currently suspended season but is hoping to make a final decision on it in August.
