LVPI asks IATF to allow volleyball athletes to resume training

MANILA, Philippines—More than seven months into the pandemic, former national team player and Motolite star Melissa Gohing continues to keep herself fit and trains online with her teammates — although nobody knows when volleyball is coming back.

The premier libero won several championships for former team Creamline before joining fellow big names Iris Tolenada and Myla Pablo in Motolite at the start of the year. Together they are counting the days until the sport finally reopens.

“My team still trains twice or thrice a day and we still have team meetings with our sports psychology coach and coaching staff,” Gohing told the Inquirer.

That may not be the case for other volleyball players, both in club leagues and schools, as the moratorium for practice and games drags on.

That prompted Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas to make another appeal to the Inter-Agency Task Force to allow the sport to at least resume practicing using the safety protocols the association has devised.

“With the long layoff we could be seeing a lot of change in the sport,” said LVPI president Joey Romasanta. “There may be some players now who may opt to retire or maybe pursue other interests.”

Volleyball joined basketball in asking the IATF last April for permission to continue. But the Games of Amusements Board, which is part of an IATF body in charge of sports, said it has little domain over volleyball club leagues because they have not declared that they are professional in nature.

The country’s main volleyball club leagues categorize themselves as semi-pro.

Romasanta said national teams are not under pressure to train because all international meets are canceled for the year.

But players in club leagues, he added, may need to get back to face-to-face training because many of them are under contract with their respective teams.

Meantime, the PBA has since resumed its Philippine Cup in a bubble environment at Clark Freeport.