THE Tats tryouts is meeting an opposition. Some quarters and stakeholders say it’s not yet time for such action to be undertaken.
With the pandemic still raging radically, it is unwise to gather athletes under one roof as it unnecessarily exposes them to the dreaded virus that has, horribly, already breached the one-million mark, infection-wise.
Surely, our officials should be the last to un-protect our sports personalities from the wrath of the Covid-19. A supreme irony, if not.
And what’s the Tats tryouts again?
Tats Suzara, the newly-minted president of the country’s volleyball association, was in the news recently calling for tryouts to select members of the male and female teams to the November Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.
If true—and there’s no reason to doubt it—Tats could be guilty of putting the lives of our volleyball players in extreme danger.
Even if, for the sake of argument, Tats will be able to get medical clearance from the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF for short) to stage his tryouts, there is always that danger that infections could occur and afflict the unwary.
The virus, with its new variants and all, is that vicious that one is never thoroughly shielded from its virulence. Even experts say the vaccinated is not totally safe.
While Tats, being the volleyball chief, has the mandate to call everybody to join the tryouts, discretion dictates for him to be circumspect as the pandemic is no laughing matter.
I feel for the team owners, who could be pushed against the wall and, maybe, trembling in fear of reprisal should they try to restrain their players from joining the tryouts.
They merely want to help protect their wards from the SARS plague—only to irk Tats?
If I may suggest: Team owners must band together and talk it out with Tats. Players just cannot do it themselves. They need their bosses also in times of distress—and uncertainty.
And, as for Tats, may he re-think his position. Better yet is, he recalls, withdraws, his tryouts? To be cautious is to be luscious in thoughts toward prudence. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.
THAT’S IT Congratulations to Eugene Torre for being the first Asian male to be enshrined in the World Chess Hall of Fame, putting him in equal footing with the likes of the game’s legends Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. Was I lucky that I had brushed elbows with all of them? What an honor—and a privilege. But my friendship with Eugene takes the cake. A priceless treasure.
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