COVID-19 and hoops: Safety amid contact sports’ return

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

It’s been two weeks since the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the national government placed Iloilo province under Alert Level 2, effectively easing health and safety protocols imposed in the province.

Under Alert Level 2, contact sports were already given the green light but are still up for approval from their respective Local Government Units (LGU).

Upon approval, players should also observe the set minimum health and safety protocols while also following a certain percentage to avoid mass gathering.

As a resident of Tigbauan, Iloilo, a town under the province, I am now actively seeing basketball courts in the different barangays slowly getting back to normal with 5v5 format allowed.

The once quiet and closed basketball gyms are again back to their old ways since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out last 2019.

However, as we all consider the return of contact sports especially basketball, we should still exercise precautions as not to cause another surge.

Despite the approval of basketball, we should still be vigilant.

We shouldn’t let our excitement go over our common sense. In short, we still have to think about our safety despite the new normal being implemented across the country.

A new and specific guideline should be presented for the various contact sports upon their return to the scene. Seeing some basketball courts who are already allowing full-blast 5-on-5 games somehow raised a lot of questions in my head.

Did they coordinate well with their LGU?

So because the province is under Alert Level 2, the resume of contact sports will have a comeback that easily?

I am not a hater. I am also an athlete who longs for the return of these sports but I am just curious on how things and the process seemed fast.

I am calling for the different sports coordinators to please consider each and everyone’s health first before executing their plans.

We are in a state of recovery and having another surge is one of the most unidealistic situations we can be in.

It would be great if these sports promoters or coordinators will lay down the specific rules to be followed upon the official return of contact sports.

We are still in a pandemic. We should act smart. We should thoroughly weigh things before jumping to the ultimate plan regarding contact sports.