SAN Miguel Beer has found a silver lining from the successive lockdowns brought about by the pandemic that repeatedly delayed the opening of the 46th PBA season.
June Mar Fajardo’s return to action is now synchronized with the possible Philippine Cup kickoff next month, not later in the season-opening tournament as was initially projected.
“Every day nagwo-workout siya, nag-re-rehab siya,” Beermen coach Leo Austria told Malaya-Business Insight yesterday. “Ma-mi-miss noon siguro one or two games na lang.
“Before the lockdown kasi ang timeline May bago siya makaka-pag-practice in full. Ngayon May na, ibig sabihin pag-start ng practices, makakasama na siya sa lahat ng drills.”
That would not have been possible had the PBA started the season last month.
“Supposed to be late in the eliminations or in the playoffs na siya makakalaro dahil nga kulang pa rehab niya,” said Austria. “Ngayon puwede na siyang sumabay dahil pinatagal nga opening nitong pandemic.”
The only questions remaining are when those practices will be given the go-signal and, more important, when the season would finally get going.
All teams would be allowed to conduct full practices once given permission by the IATF.
Government approval is also needed for the season to kick off on the new target date of mid-June, but that hinges on the number of COVID cases in the country going down.
Should the IATF give the green light, the teams can conduct month-long full contact practices in areas with more relaxed quarantine status than NCR Plus, comprising of Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Bulacan and currently under MECQ until May 14.
Batangas City, under GCQ, has already agreed to host the team’s scrimmages and Austria is fine with that. “Once na um-okay ang management okay din kami sa Batangas, kung bubble man o closed circuit format,” he said.
“Basta ang importante maka-ensayo ng full, 5-on-5. Iyun ang kulang para mapunta sa game-shape,” added Austria.
Indeed, practices have been denied all PBA teams since March 29. Before that they have been limited to non-contact, small group practices limited to five players consisting mainly of conditioning.
Fajardo, who sat out all of last year due to a fractured leg bone he suffered in practice, was present in the gym in all those sessions, showing the progress he has made in all those months of healing and rehabilitation.
“Bago magkaroon ng lockdown, nag-pa-practice na siya sa amin,” related Austria.
“Although individual pa kami noon kasama na siya noon. May mga shootaround, may laterals na siya. After that puwede na sana siya (mag-lift) ng body weights, jogging, pero nag-lockdown nga.”
Having the six-time MVP back in harness sure would be a big boon for SMB, which was struck by other injuries in the course of last year’s Philippine Cup and subsequently relinquished its five-year hold on the import-less tournament title.
