Gold-winning soft tennis team stays fit through online challenge

Soft tennis players launched a challenge among themselves to stay fit despite the lockdown. And just like everything else these days, it’s online.

Bien Zoleta-Mañalac, Southeast Asian Games doubles gold winner, said they wanted to make sure that it’s still tough grind for the soft tennis team.

“We are already in our fourth week of our fitness challenge program, and our coach even increased the level of difficulty,” Zoleta-Mañalac told the Inquirer.

The team—which had a coming-out party after winning three gold medals during the last SEA Games—is scattered all over the country due to the new coronavirus pandemic. They have no choice but to keep healthy and fit with limited resources.

So the coaches came up with a special program with emphasis on upper, lower and core exercises along with footwork, endurance drills and racket swings.

The catch: Each team member will then have to post on Facebook a video of themselves doing the assigned routine.Zoleta-Mañalac said the routines can also be used even by nonathletes who wish to be fit during the quarantine.

“We do body weights training using improvised weights like liters of water,” she said.

Zoleta-Mañalac, 30, grabbed the women’s singles and doubles titles in the SEA Games along with sister Bambi Zoleta.That created momentum for the underdog men’s team of Joseph Arcilla, Noel Damian Jr., Mark Alcoseba, Mikoff Manduriao, Dheo Talatayod and Kevin Mamawal to capture another gold.