OVER the long weekend, and boy, must’ve been a really long weekend for both the University of Santo Tomas (UST) men’s basketball team and the National University (NU) women’s volleyball squad as allegations of training in a bubble outside Metro Manila surfaced.
As of this writing, concerned government agencies are waiting for the result of UST’s internal investigation and NU reportedly will release a statement on the issue.
Unfortunately, the victims here are the young men and women student athletes. Were they forced to join the training bubble? Were they threatened with losing their scholarship? Was the mental health of these kids taken into consideration?
How long did they allegedly train in a bubble? Two or three months? That’s a lot of time and a long time to be away from their families. Who authorized it? Who’s idea was it?
I’ve spoken and gotten the thoughts of decorated and veteran sports journalists on this subject and they’re one in saying that, if there was a training bubble then laws were broken and the lives of all the persons present at the training bubble were put in danger against a deadly disease that has infected as many as 190,000 and killed 3,000 of our countrymen.
Were there guidelines and protocols agreed upon among the eight University Athletic Association of the Philippines member-schools? Was there a penalty clause for violation of these guidelines?
The person or persons responsible for this may be facing possible prison sentences as a result of the transgression. It is unfair to the other UAAP schools which ordered their student athletes to stay at home and sent training programs by their respective strength and conditioning coaches—everything to be accomplished at home.
Was there testing performed on these kids to make sure they’re not infected? How often was the testing? The next several days will reveal a lot of what transpired in Sorsogon for UST and in Laguna for NU.
I fervently hope that the athletic future of these young men and women that is the bubble, didn’t burst.