NLEX coach Yeng Guiao does not want whatever progress his team made in their initial training camp wasted so he’s looking at ways to keep them going.
With PBA teams still prohibited from conducting full-contact practices in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces until at least June 15, Guiao yesterday said he plans to bring the team back to Pampanga to continue their scrimmages there.
“Naghahanap pa kami ng gym bandang San Fernando,” Guiao told Malaya-Business Insight.
“Although ‘yung Clark gym namin hindi pa namin binibitawan,” added Guiao, referring to the St. Paul American School inside Clark City. “Clark is still an option, but if we are going to travel every day or every other day medyo mas malapit ‘yung San Fernando so itong araw na ito we’re surveying for a suitable, usable practice court in San Fernando.”
The seven-time champion coach said he is looking at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center and University of Assumption gym, aside from another option.
“Merong practice gym si Congressman Dong Gonzales, ipinapahiram niya sa akin, sa San Fernando rin. So, we’ll find out what is the best option,” said Guiao.
The PBA announced last Tuesday that teams can practice within the so-called NCR Plus bubble of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal, but only in small groups of five players per session.
That simply wouldn’t do for Guiao, notwithstanding the slight discomfort of going out of town again, since he wants the Road Warriors to continue doing what they started first in Subic and then Clark.
“We’re trying to preserve our gains from our (previous) camp. We don’t want to be vacant for one week kaya I’m trying to save these last few days of the week so we can do full practice,” said Guiao.
“Maybe two or three days, para di naman masayang buong linggo and di maubos ‘yung naipundar namin sa (unang) training camp namin.”
Guiao’s sights are even trained beyond the remainder of this week. “By next week, one of our options also is doing hybrid practices. Maybe M-W-F mag-pu-full practice outside NCR Plus and T-TH-S we’ll do small group practices in our practice facility sa UP Epsilon Chi Center,” he said.
“So malamang next week hybrid, then we’ll wait until the 15th kung ano ‘yung (government) decision, baka mag-iba. But if not, we have to reserve our options siguro.”
While admitting that adapting to the government-enforced restrictions is hard, Guiao has another reason for wanting his team’s full practices to continue. “Ano ngayon, parang just to be able to practice with your whole team is a challenge, a struggle,” he said.
“Kaya now you get to appreciate ‘yung bawa’t araw na makapag-practice kayo ng buo. You get to appreciate that because it’s so hard to come by during these times. So even the players appreciate that. Hindi nila alam kung kailan makakapag-practice ulit ng magkakasama. I think that contributed to the quality of the practices.”
NLEX’s team building in Subic followed by a week-long stint at Clark produced the desired results for Guiao. “Okay kami sa Clark. We benefitted a lot. We felt it was a very fruitful, useful experience,” he said.
“That is why I’m trying my best now to preserve those gains. Ayokong bakante kami ng isang linggo na ito. Iyon nga, if we have to drive back to Pampanga, we will do that towards the end of the week para di lang masayang oras.”
