AFTER getting holed up for more than two months, members of the Don Bosco Technical Center (DBTC) football club are slowly dusting off the cobwebs of their cleats to join their two-month online camp designed by Glenn Ramos.
June is usually the culmination of the club’s summer program, when they’d usually fly off to various areas of the Visayas and Mindanao to join tournaments to gauge how the kids have improved through their programs.
Among them is the Ceres Cup, one of the country’s biggest tournaments that attract teams all over the country. Of course, that and a whole lot of others have been canned because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aside from that, DBTC was supposed to represent Region 7 in the Palarong Pambansa, which won’t have the 2020 and 2021 editions as the Department of Education wants to avoid crowd-drawing activities.
So coach Glenn decided to come up with a home-based program to keep the footballers fit and to help them adapt to the challenges of the new normal in the education setting. The students have been locked at their homes since Cebu City imposed a community quarantine and canceled classes in March.
Aside from keeping them off social media for an hour or two, coach Glenn hopes the home-based program can avoid skills deterioration among the players and can also help boost their immune system through physical activity.
“They are provided with physical activities rather than playing video games and being on social media. They do not have to be in contact with other players and coaches, thus keeping prescribed social distance,” he said.
The club held a two-day dry run on May 29 and 30 and will start the regular schedule on June 3. The Players 6 to Players 13 will have their sessions on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while the 14- to 19-year-old players will have theirs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
He also said the grassroots players need to have a parent or an adult with them during online training and that all must observe personal hygiene before and after the sessions.
Of course, it’s a given that students have reliable internet connection and since everyone’s at home most of the time these days and online, there will be spotty coverage. However, overall coach Glenn was happy with the dry run and is excited to start their camp under the new normal.