Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Leo Austria has always been with the game of basketball for nearly all his life.
Playing for Lyceum in his collegiate days, Austria would eventually get to the PBA and become the 1985 Rookie of the Year.
Fast forward to 35 years, Austria is still with the sport and has led San Miguel to eight titles in the PBA along with three Coach of the Year plums.
Austria, however, is now away from the sport due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has paralyzed normal life and he’s now turned his attention to his children Bacon, Jed, and Lea as they work out at their home for six days a week.
“Now we’re spending so much time together, we talk about everything not just basketball, and our three children are bonding even more with our guidance,” said Austria in Filipino Sunday.
“For six days a week, we work out with Sunday as our rest day because we visit my mother-in-law and have family lunch or dinner with her.
Austria said he purchased bands and plates for them to use with his new weight equipment amounting to a total of 400 pounds (lbs).
He even bragged that he can now squat up to 185 lbs and bench press 150 lbs.
“Working out helps a lot because it distracts me from the problems the country is currently facing,” said Austria of the pandemic.
Austria said the pandemic is indeed a dangerous and unfortunate event and that he wishes that it had not happened in the first place.
Nevertheless, Austria and his wife Ana have found good use of the lockdown — that is to spend more time with their children.
“Before the lockdown, we do spend time but not like this because they used to have school or work in the morning and go back home late at night,” said Austria. “With the lockdown, we now have a lot of time to talk with each other and bond.”
“We didn’t want [the pandemic] to happen but we just have to maximize with the time we have. We exercise and we also have a weighing scale so we can monitor ourselves. We don’t want to gain a lot of weight and at the same time lose too much. We just maintain what we feel is good for our bodies.”