PARTICIPANTS in the tryouts for the men’s and women’s national teams in Subic later this week will start undergoing RT-PCR tests starting today in a swabbing facility at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The tests are in compliance with the Philippine National Volleyball Federation’s requirement for all athletes, coaches, officials and staff to be tested of Covid-19 48 hours before they proceed to Subic.
Testing starts on Monday afternoon with the invitees for women’s volleyball, as well as the PNVF staff who will be at the Subic tryouts bubble.
The men’s volleyball tryout participants will have their turn on Tuesday, while the invitees for women’s and men’s beach volleyball will undergo testing on Wednesday.
Tryouts for the men’s and women’s volleyball teams are set on Wednesday and Thursday at the Subic Gym, while those for the men’s and women’s beach volleyball squads are scheduled on Friday at the Subic Tennis Courts.
The testing are through the assistance of Taguig City Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano and Deputy Chief Implementer National Task Force Against COVID-19 Secretary Vince Dizon. Taguig City is the PNVF’s local government unit partner.
“These RT-PCR tests are first and foremost on the PNVF’s list of priorities for these tryouts,” PNVF president Ramon “Tats” Suzara said. “The health and safety of everyone in the Subic bubble is paramount to the federation.”
Invited in the tryouts are 40 women’s and 40 men’s volleyball players and 20 women’s and 20 men’s beach volleyball players.
As decided in a recent meeting attended by the PNVF, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Philippine Red Cross officials, all players will wear facemasks while participating in the three-day tryouts.
National coaches Arthur “Odjie” Mamon (volleyball women) Dante Alinsunurin (volleyball men), Paul Jan Doloiras (beach volleyball women) and Rhovyl Verayo (beach volleyball men) will supervise the tryouts.