THIS past weekend saw the Abanse Negrense A winning the 2021 Gatorade-Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge and that feat got me thinking.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve witnessed four bubbles—National Basketball Association (NBA), Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and Philippine Football League (PFL)—last year. And then the beach volleyball bubble this past weekend.
I cannot even begin to fathom how it must be challenging for the mind, body and spirit for both professional and non-professional athletes to perform at a high level without any support system in place. I mean, you’ve got your teammates and coaches but being away from your families takes its toll on even the most decorated athlete.
According to the Cardiff Student Media website, “The NBA is another sporting product that shares this uncertain future. In the most recent season, which the LA Lakers won, the bio-secure bubble concept was used to the ultimate excess. The bubble for the NBA was based in Florida at the World Disney resort in Orlando.
For many, this situation would be a childhood dream come true, being locked in at World Disney. Yet, the challenges of being locked down in the bio-secure bubble is having an effect on the mental well-being of some players already. For players like Paul George of LA Clippers fame, the bubble has taken him to places of anxiety and feeling alone. With such a high-profile player speaking out about the impacts of the bubble, hopefully in the future of NBA bubbles, more can be done to limit these kinds of mental health effects.”
Covid-19 has already done a number on both professional and amateur athletes without being in a bio-secure bubble, what more in isolation over a substantial period of time.
NBA players spent about three months inside the bubble. PBA players were isolated for almost two months. The PFL bubble was almost a month. The Gatorade-PSL beach volleyball players were in a bubble for a week.
The toll it exacts doesn’t only affect athletes but also the coaches, the officials, the health and medical practitioners who do the testing, the hotel staff who make sure the players are comfortable, the equipment guys and the people who set up the courts and fields.
Also, over the weekend, I saw something that reinforced my faith in humanity. I saw on Instagram the Fiji Silktails Rugby Team sang to say thank you to the Hotel Sofitel Wentworth quarantine staff after their two week stay.
According to the Good News Movement Instagram page, “In a gesture of gratitude, the rugby team from Fiji sang to thank the Sofitel Wentworth staff for their hard work keeping their hotel clean during their 2-week quarantine ahead of a New South Wales Rugby League competition.”
These bubbles are not easy to organize and they don’t come cheap. Forbes.com says “The bubble was a $190-million investment by the NBA to protect its 2019–20 season, which was initially suspended by the pandemic on March 11, 2020. The bubble recouped an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue.”
The PBA spent somewhere in the neighborhood of about P60 to 65 million on their bubble. Leagues will spend a substantial amount of resources to bring back their product to relevance and to satisfy hunger and craving of sports fans all over.
So it isn’t just a mental, physical and emotional brunt on the athletes, but also a financial toll on team and league owners.
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