ONE of the initiatives the government will start post-enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is Bong Go’s Balik Probinsya for the Metro Manila workers. It is meant to decongest the nation’s capital and spread the development back to the provinces.

Let’s leave that for the political and socio-economic experts. However, I’m wondering if the same can be applied for sports.

One of the major concerns of people based outside of Manila that has been raised in the past is the practice of some National Sports Associations (NSAs) to require those who make the national team, or those who want to make the national team, to be based in Metro Manila. Some have balked at that requirement and decided to not suit up for the national team.

Some coaches of these athletes have also bristled at losing their talents to coaches who are just a shade better than them or whose ace over them are certificates.

However, if the national government is urging everybody to go back to the provinces, shouldn’t sports do the same thing? Of course, this will be close to impossible in events like basketball, volleyball and football, since the professional leagues are all based in Manila. But this may be doable for individual events like track, swimming and even boxing, which are our biggest medal contributors in minor international events like the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Swimming, in particular, has seen a downturn in SEA Games, with the recent Manila SEA Games the only bright blip in an otherwise flattening of the curve over a decade or so. Although there are a lot of factors involved, particularly that long rift between the two groups fighting for control, but maybe letting the potential national team members stay where they learned their craft might improve performance.

As for basketball, with the PBA, UAAP and NCAA all based in Manila, we can’t adopt this practice. But perhaps staunch President Rodrigo Duterte supporter Sen. Manny Pacquiao can do this for his popular Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL)?

Play the South Division games in the South, particularly Visayas and Mindanao. Cebu has only had a handful of MPBL games, but maybe that could change. Provided, of course, the whole coronavirus situation in the city and province improve drastically.

I don’t know what sports in the country will be like post-ECQ but I hope to see some of it here in the countryside.