The national athletes of the Philippine Volleyball men’s and women’s teams will have a bubble training camp in Ilocos Norte starting July 1. | Inquirer file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philipppine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) is looking at Thursday, July 1, 2021 to kick off their bubble training in Ilocos Norte for major competitions set this year.
The PNVF is preparing to compete in the Asian Women’s Senior’s Championships in August at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Clark Freeport and Economic Zone in Mabalacat, Pampanga. The competition will be from August 29 to September 5, 2021.
The men and women’s national teams in volleyball are also competing in the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in November in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“Training for the national teams officially start on July 1 and we are very thankful that Ilocos Norte has agreed to adopt our national athletes who will be training in a bubble environment,” said Ramon Suzara, PNVF president.
“The Asian championship and the SEA Games are priority events on the national team program,” Suzara said.
Also, he denied the reports that came out that the national volleyball teams will be having their training camp in Baguio City.
He said that the PNVF training bubbles were exclusively arranged for the national teams.
“It’s not true that the PNVF has a training bubble in Baguio City,” he said. “Maybe, certain reports that volleyball players are in Baguio City weren’t confirmed at all.”
Meanwhile, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chief of Staff Marc Velasco confirmed that there were no national athletes training in Baguio City, although it would serve as a training camp for several sports in the coming months.
“At least 10 countries are expected to take part in this major Asian Volleyball Confederation and International Volleyball Federation tournaments,” Suzara said.
On the other hand, the fate of the 31st SEA Games, which has been scheduled to be held on November 21 until December 2, 2021 in Hanoi, has yet to be decided.
This after, the organizers of the biennial event asked for a 14-day window to decide whether to postpone or not the competition due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the uncertainty, Suzara will push through with THE Ilocos Norte bubble training camps.
“The PNVF mindset is for the athletes—including beach volleyball—to focus on these international events,” he said.
There are 56 national team members—20 men and 16 women in volleyball and 10 men and 10 women in beach volleyball./WITH PR
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