The approval of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for the resumption of the conduct of competitive contact sports, specifically men’s basketball and women’s volleyball, was met with great appreciation by school authorities, students, alumni, and other sports enthusiasts.
However, the approval is hinged on very strictly following the safety protocols based on the guidelines issued by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Health (DOH), the IATF, and the Local Government Units (LGU) under a system called the “Sports Bubble”.
The face-to-face training, preparation, and actual games must all be conducted under a “Sports Bubble” set up which is designed to isolate and protect the athletes, coaching staff, and game officials from the Covid 19 virus during the duration of the tournament season.
The Arellano University Chiefs Senior men’s basketball team entered its bubble after fully complying with the required health protocols. The players were subjected to an antigen test and then quarantined in a hotel. After 5 days, an RT PCR test was given to them before they entered the venue of their bubble in the Legarda campus. Here, they are provided with food, personal hygiene kits, living quarters, etc., under strict protocols and procedures. Together with their coaching staff and utility personnel, they will live here in isolation until the end of the basketball season.
According to Head Coach Cholo Martin in an interview conducted by Carandang (2022) of GMA News, the brief preparation time given to the team for the season, their physical separation from family members and loved ones are some of the challenges they face during their stay in the Sports Bubble. Other schools and universities likewise, share the same sentiment. But in the end, all these sacrifices and hardships are all part of the discipline of varsity athletics, an undertaking necessary for the formation of hearts and minds in preparation for the bigger challenges that awaits them in the tough world of competition in the real world after school.
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