MICHELE Gumabao had a ‘wakeup call’ on her first day as TV analyst for the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament.
Gumabao and Anton Roxas were already on camera while University of Perpetual Help and College of St. Benilde were warming up when an errant ball suddenly hit her head on live telecast at ABS-CBN Sports+Action.
“Nagising ako actually doon sa tama sa akin ng bola, [parang], 'Hello, good morning',” she said when Spin.ph caught up with her in the TV room at The Arena in San Juan on Tuesday.
“Hindi ko talaga nakita ‘yung bola kasi nakatingin ako kay Anton dahil nga magsa-start na,” she added. “Kaya ‘di ko nakita na may parating na bola.”
[See Denden, Michelle get into the flow in new role as TV analysts]
The former La Salle star, however, kept her composure despite the incident, and she even managed to joke about it.
“Tapos hindi naman nila sinabi sa akin, wala man lang sumigaw na, ‘aaahh!’ so ako, parang ok lang, chill lang,” said Gumabao, who added that she's no stranger to embarrassing hits after playing four years for the Lady Spikers and three years in the Philippine Super Liga.
“Sanay naman akong matamaan ng bola [pero] at least hindi sa face ko,” she added laughing. “For years (and) until now natatamaan pa rin ako ng bola, [kaya] ok lang.”
Gumabao will be back as an analyst for the women’s match on Tuesday.