BY WAYLON GALVEZ
Without local and international competitions until the end of the year, the men’s national handball team continues to keep a strict training program to stay fit despite the lockdown due to global health crisis.
Since the imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) by the government in mid-March to stop the spread of COVID-19, members of the team have been doing daily strength and conditioning training from their respective homes.
“The training program that we gave our national team players, ginagawa nila faithfully,” said handball coach Jana Franquelli.
“Our team kasi is a mixture ng estudyante and mga nagtatrabaho, so hindi kami sabay-sabay na nakakapag-training online. Kung kelan sila pwede sa schedule nila sa isang araw, that’s when they train.”
“Because of the situation, the lockdown, we consider this an off-season training. Walang mga competitions so ngayon ang focus namin for the players magpalakas,” added Franquelli.
The coaching staff, Franquelli said, monitors the progress of the training program through an online group meeting at the end of the week.
Other topics have also been discussed like techniques and nutritional intake.
“Ang importante naman dun sa ginagawa namin na online meeting is we keep in touch with the players, we monitor their health, even their nutrition kung anon mga food nila,” she said.
Franquelli said that this training program is likely to continue until the end of December this year after the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) announced the other day that there would be no more sports activities as per directives of the Department of Budget Management and the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Most likely wala na din kasing events this year… unless magkaroon ng himala, milagro na biglang may vaccine na or cure. Importante kasi sa ngayon ma-eradicate yung virus,” said Franquelli.
“Who knows din… baka sakaling magkaroon ng solution sa virus, at biglang may events at the end of the year. At least ready yung mga players physically. Kaya sakin tuloy lang ang training.”
