Live sporting events are still a
long ways away from once again entertaining and thrilling sports fans in the
Philippines, with you-know-what being to blame for putting a crimp on mass
gatherings and close physical contact. It is wonder even that the Philippine
Sports Commission (PSC) and the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has
allowed a number of professional sports leagues to resume practice and drills
in anticipation for the resumption of seasons put on hold. Such a privilege is
so precious and can easily be rescinded if things go wrong, which is why the
PBA is steeling itself to be strict with their players.
The Philippine Star reports that the Philippine Basketball
Association (PBA) is ready to mete some heavy penalties to any players who will
violate the minimum health and safety protocols for the COVID-19 pandemic
during their authorized resumption of practice. League commissioner Willie
Marcial announced on Monday, July 13, the specific regulations in place from
the government to allow their teams to get in shape. One major restriction for
the approved drill sessions was that the players could not form scrimmages, which
would constitute a mass gathering and violate the sacrosanct health rule of
physical distancing.
To facilitate practice, a PBA
team will have to divide its playing roster into batches with only four players
each. Since it is hard to get a real team game going with limited numbers, the
4-man batches can only engage in physical conditioning and individual basketball
drills. It is hoped by the league that if the squads can follow the
prescriptions to the latter, then by August full scrimmages would be allowed
for better drilling. To really drive to the players the gravity of the
situation, any PBA guy who is caught violating COVID safety protocols during
practice can look forward to some harsh monetary fines.
In Marcial’s calculation, a first
offender during these government-approved practice sessions will be penalized
P20,000 from their salary. If they get caught again then each successive fine
will be double the amount from before: P40,000 for the second offense, P80,000
for the third, etc. And that is only the league-mandated punishment. Each PBA
team is at liberty to punish its own players for health safety infractions. As
NLEX Road Warriors coach Yeng Guiao says, “If you fail to follow our protocols,
aside from the PBA, there will be a penalty from the teams internally, so it’s
a double whammy.”
The IATF-approved resumption of
PBA team training starts on either July 20 or 22. Participating players must
first test negative for COVID-19 before being allowed to join in the drills,
with swab tests mandated every 10 days during their practice.
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