Local pros buoyed by NBA model

MANILA, Philippines — The so-called “bubble” is working for the restarted season of the NBA so far, showing the PBA and other Philippine sports leagues a model to pattern at least portions of their own resumption plans.

On Wednesday, the NBA announced that of the 343 players tested, none has tested positive since entering the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida last month.

Officials of the PBA and the Philippines Football League are confident they can successfully do their own version of the bubble here.

The PBA won’t actually be herding all the teams in one place like the NBA does but instead will implement a “closed circuit” method, in which players’ movements will be confined strictly to a home-gym-home routine.

Per protocols approved by the Inter Agency Task Force, PBA players will be swabbed every 14 days once small group practices start under general community quarantine.

“We learn a lot from what the NBA does, like implementing social distancing rules during timeouts,” PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said.

“We’re observing the best practices not just of the NBA but all the leagues. Take for instance Bundesliga. They have a semi-quarantine protocol where players have a home-vehicle-venue routine and they’re successful,” Marcial also said.

He said resumption of play under strict health guidelines is doable.

For its part the PFL will wrap the clubs in a bubble at the PFF National Training Center in Carmona, Cavite.

“They train first and then they (IATF) will decide depending on the situation on whether the actual matches can be held in Carmona,” said PFF general secretary Ed Gastanes.

“One of the considerations of the IATF is that we have presented that all the matches will be held in the PFF National Training Center in Carmona. We can create a bubble for that so that the risk of infection is lower.”