FROM being the premier basketball venue of Cebu, the Cebu Coliseum has become the butt of jokes after having suffered several mishaps while major tournaments were held there.
These include technical difficulties during the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) finals and the poor state of the court.
But then again, Cebu does not have any other option.
That is why the Cebu Coliseum management decided that the coliseum will undergo a major repair before the Cesafi season opens on
Aug. 1.
By the start of the new season, basketball players will be playing on a newly repaired basketball court free from “dead spots” and “uneven edges.”
“We changed the flooring because the floor joist were all rotten, damaged by moist and termites, and the floor itself is already in a bad state. Not just part, but the entire court,” Cebu Coliseum Complex in-charge Susan Bacalso told Sun.Star Cebu.
The repairs started early June, days after the coliseum hosted a two-month long summer basketball clinic.
The repairs are no longer a patching job, that has been done in the previous years.
“We change the lath floorings with phenolic (plywood) board. We hope that it is okay. But we have encountered some problems now because our supplier (of phenolic board) has ran out of stocks, and we are in double time to finish the floorings in time because August is too close and it still needs painting jobs,” Bacalso continued.
Before the repair began, the coliseum staff had to secure the signatures of University of Cebu President Atty. Augusto Go for the purchase orders of materials before they went to Coliseum owner Mr. (Frederick) Ong for the approval.
The joists were replaced and were treated to withstand moist and termites, while all the available boards were in placed nearly half of the entire court. The painting jobs will start once the flooring repairs is done.
Aside from the court, the basketball goal parts needs some replacement.
“We will change the fiber glass (board) and the ring, kay naputol man gud ang ring. Ang goal post mao ra gihapon, ilisan lang gyud ang board ug ang ring,” Bacalso continued.
For years, Coliseum manager Ben Tulda, has been recommending the changing of the basketball court because it has worsened in years.
Instead, the coliseum resorted to patching jobs because accordingly, the coliseum owners don’t want to invest more money for a brand new basketball court.
PBA teams are hesitant to play at the Cebu Coliseum because the flooring has no cushion, which might bring a career threatening injuries to the players. Underneath the floor were concrete slabs crisscrossed by wooden joist, leaving no room for cushions.
Some companies that used to operate a basketball team – the Cebuana Lhuillier of the MBA days and M. Lhuillier offered to shoulder part of the amount but never panned out.
Aside from the court, the lighting system also needs repair, as well as the digital scoreboard and shot clock and the exhaust is laughable as it gets too steamy when jampacked.