MERALCO center Raymond Almazan—like all other players in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)—has experienced the stress that comes with playing in a bubble.
The PBA staged its Philippine Cup to salvage its 45th season in a Clark bubble that went on for three months with an exorbitant price tag.
“I’m ready to play in any environment whether pure bubble or not, but to be honest, it’s so stressful with a lot of hassle,” the 32-year-old former Letran Knight said. “We already experienced how difficult it was inside a pure bubble, so we’re praying it won’t happen again.”
PBA officials, including chairman Ricky Vargas and commissioner Willie Marcial, already dismissed a bubble setup for the suspended Governors’ Cup and are going for a closed circuit or “home-venue-home” policy to limit exposure to Covid-19.
And they’re getting there after Marcial announced that the Games and Amusements Board has endorsed the league’s request for a non-bubble environment to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Almazan, 32, said it’s his job as a professional basketball player to oblige to his team and PBA rules, but he also has a family to take care of and a business to attend to.
“Psychologically, a bubble is very stressful because I have two young kids and businesses to take care of in Manila,” said the 6-foot-7 Almazan, who lives in a Pasay City condominium but occasionally brings his wife Liza and kids Jacob, 5, and Joaquin, 2, to their small farm in Tagaytay City.
With group training and scrimmage banned under Alert Level 3, all players are forced to stay in shape at home and keep in touch with their coaches online.
“The players have been working with programs coming from our trainers to stay in shape,” Meralco head coach Norman Black said. “Our [virtual] meetings are more on sharing information with the players.”