FULL practices and scrimmages are set to resume for nine PBA teams this week in faraway Batangas City since quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila keep them from training in their usual practice venues.
Reigning Philippine Cup champion Barangay Ginebra, Phoenix, San Miguel, Alaska, Magnolia, Rain or Shine, Blackwater, NorthPort, and Terrafirma are set to restart their build-up for the season either on Thursday or Friday.
Three Batangas gyms will be hosting the practices for now since gyms and indoor facilities in the NCR+ bubble remained closed after protocols were downgraded to general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions.
The PBA got the go-signal from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to proceed with full practices and scrimmages in GCQ and modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) areas.
But the heightened resctrictions attached to the GCQ protocols in NCR+ forced PBA teams to stick with the original plan of staging their trainings in Batangas City, which is accessible to Manila via the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) Tollway.
Meralco went in a different direction as it has already began practicing last Monday in Ilocos Norte, the same area where sister team TNT is slated to conduct training. NLEX, on the other hand, will have Pampanga as its training site.
So far, practices have been seamless for the Bolts, who opted to undergo a 10-day training in Northern Luzon where restrictions are much more lenient compared to Metro Manila's.
Meralco is training at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena in Laoag City, with head coach Norman Black not in a hurry to intensify the practice sessions for the Bolts.
“Our practice was good for a first day. Mostly shooting, conditioning, and 5-on-0. We will gradually pick up the intensity as the week moves on,” said Black.
Black’s strategy could be the same for the rest of the teams as they have yet to undergo full practices since they played inside the bubble in Clark, Pampanga last year for the 2020 season's lone conference.
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