Phoenix training in full swing

MANILA, Philippines — It’s back to the salt mines for the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters, and coach Louie Alas said yesterday while the restarted training at The Upper Deck is only thrice a week, the PBA team gets together for Zoom workouts and video classes on game situations the other days so it’s a six-day-a-week regimen.

The gym work started last Wednesday and the schedule sets one-hour sessions with four players each starting at 8 a.m. It’s Monday-Wednesday-Friday at The Upper Deck. Comprising the first 8-9 a.m. batch are Calvin Abueva, Justin Chua, Jorey Napoles and Mike Gamboa. Sanitation is done from 9 to 9:30 a.m. then the second group of Matthew Wright, RJ Jazul, JC Intal and Jason Perkins checks in from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Another sanitation is done from 10:30 to 11 a.m. after which the third crew of Dave Marcelo, Jay-R Reyes, Brian Heruela and Alex Mallari reports from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.

Alas said Perkins is excused from attending the sessions as his wife Marga gave birth to a baby girl, Luna Bella, last Wednesday. Jansen Rios is also excused as he lives with several senior citizens at home. Not in the training rotation are Davon Potts, RR Garcia, Jhaymo Eguilos and Jake Pascual. Potts, Garcia and Eguilos are under consideration for a contract renewal. Potts, however, is still in the US. Pascual is undergoing rehab for an ACL injury suffered during a preseason exhibition game against Dankook University of South Korea last February.

Alas supervises the second batch while assistant Topex Robinson is assigned to the first and assistant Willy Wilson the third. Different health officers are also designated for each group. Aside from the M-W-F sessions, Alas said the team does Zoom workouts on Tuesday and Thursday and on Saturday, he conducts video classes on defense and offense. There’s still no go-signal for Abueva to play although he’s been cleared to practice. The word is he’s just a few steps short of complying with the PBA’s reactivation conditions. Alas said he’s looking forward to bringing Abueva back to the playing lineup. “Malaking tulong siya,” said Alas.

Intal, the team’s “elder” statesman at 36, said he expects the Fuel Masters to be “very, very competitive” when the season restarts. “I was with Matthew a few weeks ago on Zoom and he told me after watching ‘The Last Dance’ twice or thrice, he’s very eager to restart practice and promised to push the team, to push the younger guys,” said Intal. “I told him as long as I’m here, I’m going to support him.” Intal said he tried to convince his buddy Doug Kramer to defer his retirement and play at least one more conference. But Kramer decided to hang up his sneakers after 12 seasons. Intal and Kramer were Ateneo teammates then joined the PBA in 2007-08. Intal was the fourth overall pick and Kramer the fifth in the 2007 PBA draft.