Bleacher Talk

Panalay Lockdown   Cebu – While most eyes look to the NBA and the PBA as the major sources of basketball entertainment, the VISMIN’s top roadshow has also been knocked down for the count. It’s the “panalay” world of basketball, the series of pocket tournaments that hop from one town to another in the various cities and towns in the Visayas and Mindanao. The panalay scene is a big hit among local fans as it features live basketball action, up close and personal and before full-house crowds, something that probinsyano fans don’t get much of. Tournaments are played almost every weekend for a series of weeks in different towns. These are considered the biggest and most attractive to local fans, private ballclubs and players due to its generous prizes and perks.   The biggest cash prizes can reach as much as P300,000 for the champion with P150,000 as the smallest. On top of the prizes, teams are also offered all-expense paid trips to these tournaments, with the local organizer shou...

CESAFI Holds Webinar Series   It looks like the CESAFI won’t be that quiet after all. The league, which cancelled its 20 th season, is holding a CESAFI Sports and Coaching Webinar Series for its coaches, sports administrators, PE teachers and sports enthusiasts.   This was bared jointly by CESAFI Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy Jr. and Pio Solon, Athletic Director of Southwestern University-PHINMA. In a message to CESAFI schools, Tiukinhoy said the CESAFI Board of Trustees, which met at a recent board meeting, “approved the Commissioner’s proposal to conduct a series of weekly zoom webinars on sports development program for the CESAFI community.” This will kick off on Saturday, August 1 at 3PM.   “The CESAFI is partnering with the Dagohoy Academy, SWU-PHINMA, and Epic Performance and Fitness to conduct our first-ever CESAFI Sports and Coaching webinar series live,” Solon added. “Sports coaches and strength-and-conditioning coaches play a very important role in promoting spo...

GoNegosyo Coaches One of the most important traits of a good leader is how one can adapt to any situation or scenario given to him or her. In sports, coaches have to deal with this all the time at practice, games and off the court with their teams. Their talent or skill to deal with such changes make them better coaches and leaders. And now that COVID 19 has thrown the most wicked curve ball that they’ve ever faced, they have had to make serious changes to the game plan of their lives. With sports taking a long time out, many coaches have been stranded and without jobs. No work means no pay. It’s as simple as that. But how have Cebu’s coaches adapted to the times? With Facebook as our field, we noticed that some coaches have now made the switch from coaching to becoming businessmen in the field of retailing, selling a variety of goods with the main goal of finding a substitute to the lost earnings from this long time out. Since making substitutions in games is a common thing for them, ...

Proj. KKKK: No Games, No Problem! There’s a program worth citing and it isn’t from the big city. It’s from Mindanao and now has a nationwide reach. It’s called Project KKKK, and this stands for Kalaro, Kaibigan, Kasama, Kakwentuhan. It’s a weekly online program held every Saturday at 3pm on the Facebook Page “Project KKKK.” This brings together student-athletes, regular students, coaches, and others for an hour or two of kwentuhan, sharing and fun. I’d rather not call it a webinar because it sounds too “formal” and straight. Let’s call it simply “kwentuhan.” Online, virtual and a whole lot of fun. Project KKKK is the initiative of the Mindanao Peace Games (MPG), through the three Jesuit schools in Mindanao: Ateneo de Davao (ADDU), Ateneo de Zamboanga (ADZU) and Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan. MPG Convenor Noli Ayo of ADDU said that since the MPG will not take place this year, the core group of student-athletes thought of an activity that would maintain the bonds that were created ...

Bubble Basketball Anyone? With the NBA re-starting its season soon and the PBA teams resuming practice, the basketball world is getting excited for the return of hardcourt action. But what exactly will we all look out for? The games? The scores? Or the way they’ll deal with COVID 19? The COVID score? One thing sure is that this new normal for basketball is going to be a test case for the sport, with COVID still very much alive. With everyone’s safety and health as the top concern, NBA Restart 2019-2020 is taking place in a “bubble.” The bubble is the Walt Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida, where all activities will be conducted. By all, that means ALL: practice, games, testing, sleeping, eating and resting. All team personnel, players and staff will be restricted to the venue and won’t be allowed to leave the bubble until the season ends or when one’s team is eliminated (I think), or if one has to leave for a very serious emergency. It’s...

Basketball, Football Practice to Resume? Headlines can sometimes lead to more confusion than certainty. And the recent updates on sports activities in this pandemic was a classic example. Below are headlines of different online media outfits and you be the judge. “JUST IN: IATF allows conduct of practice sessions for basketball, football teams amid COVID-19 pandemic.” - GMA News Online “IATF Clears Basketball Football to Resume Training” – ABS-CBN Sports “Gov’t allows practices to resume for basketball, football amid community quarantine” – GMA News Online When Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced on Friday that the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) had allowed the professional leagues PBA and PFL to resume practice, social media was filled with these headlines, leading many to think that practice (in general) was already allowed. Diehard sports personalities, from organizers to fans and weekend warriors expressed their sighs of relief, joy and gratitude...