Healthiest place to be

The Clark bubble isn’t just the safest place to be in this pandemic but also the healthiest. Food is delivered to the PBA guests at the Quest Hotel outside their rooms, right by the door and it’s a solid diet of mainly fish and chicken. For health-conscious players watching what they eat, the meals are taken right out of a nutritionist’s menu.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial says he’ll leave the bubble like he went on a weight reduction program. But it’s not just the healthy diet. Marcial leaves his phone open to take calls any time of day, from the PBA governors, medical consultant Dr. George Canlas, coaches, players, team officials, staff, media, friends, family and the league’s partners in the restart, particularly Secretary Vince Dizon, Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president Noel Manankil and GAB chairman Baham Mitra. So it’s a lot of waking hours for Marcial who actually enjoys the frequent interaction and consultation. When there were false positives or inconclusive testing, he had sleepless nights waiting for the confirmatory antigen and swab results. Fortunately, every single person in the bubble has been tested and retested thrice to be negative.

When the IATF ordered a suspension of the games to lay out new protocols last Friday, anxious moments couldn’t be helped. The fresh protocols turned out to be in Secretary Dizon’s terms, straight forward and simple, meaning nothing to get excited about. The IATF has been reassured that the bubble is intact and unbreached. One protocol change is not to use the Athletes Village as a temporary quarantine facility. Instead, CDC will designate a hotel or a suite in a hospital within the Clark Freeport Zone. Not all the hotels in Clark are open so CDC will look for a facility that is fully sanitized and ready to accommodate the PBA for any eventuality. Since it’s been over a month that the PBA guests entered the bubble and no one has tested positive, it isn’t likely that a temporary quarantine facility will even be necessary.

Once inside the bubble, Dr. Canlas says it’s totally safe. Marcial notes that with the imposition of strict protocols, it’s improbable for the virus to penetrate the bubble, making the risk of infection virtually impossible. During the four-day suspension of games, the bubble remained open for jogging, running, walking, swimming, billiards and other recreational activities. So it wasn’t like the IATF called for a restriction to quarters. The PBA also released a practice schedule for teams to go to the Angeles University Foundation gym while the games were suspended.

Hostilities were resumed yesterday and it’s a sprint to the playoffs with nine days of eliminations left up to Nov. 11. When the playoffs start, the last four placers will leave the bubble. The eight survivors then face off in the quarterfinals with the top four enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage over the next four with the matchups determined by the order of finish – 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. The four quarterfinal series will be split into two doubleheaders on Nov. 13 and 14. If the lower seeds win the first game, the do-or-die rematches will be played on Nov. 15 and 16. Then, the four losers exit the bubble and the four winners advance to the semifinals which will be best-of-five affairs set from Nov. 18 to 27, played on a Wednesday, Friday and Sunday schedule. The finals will be a best-of-seven series from Nov. 29 to Dec. 13 if it goes the distance.

The race to the playoffs is a survival of the fittest. Coaches will be challenged to pace their players, deepen their rotations and preserve warm bodies for the long haul. Dr. Canlas says PTs and strength/conditioning coaches must be on top of the players’ routine to assure rest and recovery with hydration and nutrition.