The decision to allow the resumption of practices in basketball is still a very delicate matter.
Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas executive director Sonny Barrios said this, a few days after the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases finally gave the go signal for basketball and football to have workouts.
With many limitations present, Barrios said the SBP will still need for the written guidelines from the IATF before many club teams can proceed with their scrimmages.
“Right now, very fluid ang situation, nu’ng nabalitaan naman pumayag na ang IATF sa practices,” said Barrios during yesterday’s weekly online Zoom session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
The SBP, added Barrios, is still awaiting developments following reports that there is a spike in the number of people who have been infected by the coronavirus pandemic and that Metro Manila may have to go back to enhanced community quarantine measures in the coming days.
Barrios said they have formulated a set of protocols for their activities, with the guidance of the International Basketball Federation.
Under a General Enhanced Community Quarantine, practice sessions will be limited to just four athletes and a coach or trainer on the floor for basketball.
In a Modified GCQ setup, as many as nine athletes, and a coach or trainer can do workouts together.
“These practices will be done with limited parameters. Kaya humingi ako ng kopya nito, kasi we cannot go on without specific guidelines,” added Barrios.
Barrios added that the SBP has currently adopted FIBA’s return to basketball policy, formulated to help many federations worldwide to cope with the situations they face while in lockdown and going through measures to stop the spread of the pandemic in their respective countries.
Barrios said ongoing lockdown measures throughout the world has already delayed the staging of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will now be held on May 2021, a month before the Tokyo Olympics.
Events leading up to the PH’s staging of the 2023 FIBA World have also been influenced by situations happening since the beginning of quarantine measures.
The SBP has yet to finalize how to go about a launch the ceremony, which could either be done digitally or physically in a proper venue.
A draw ceremony is still in the drawing board, and the SBP is also thinking of doing this digitally for safety and health reasons.
