BACARRA, ILOCOS NORTE — After a series of unfortunate events, Perlas finally made their long-awaited debut on the pro debut at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center here on Sunday.
Though it was not the outcome that they wanted, Perlas, led by team captain Jem Ferrer, are just glad to finally have the chance to showcase their wares in the country’s first-ever professional league.
“Siyempre, we’re super happy na ito na first game namin. But then again, naging short kasi yung training namin. Yung preparations kasi parang two days lang kami nag-training before this first game kasi nga we were told to quarantine for five days. So medyo nag a-adjust pa rin sa venue and then yung mga galawan namin sa court,” said Ferrer after their straight-set loss to the Choco Mucho Flying Titans.
“Heading to this game everyone’s excited so parang I told them to control your emotions kasi ‘pag ka sobrang na-excite ka maglaro hindi mo na alam kung ano yung ikikilos mo inside the court.”
Despite a great showing in the first set, Perlas showed signs of rust, later on, failing to keep toe-to-toe against Choco Mucho.
And it’s really understandable, considering that the team underwent a five-day quarantine period after a member of the team’s non-playing staff tested positive to COVID-19.
Perlas only had two days of training before finally hitting the court against Choco Mucho.
Aside from that, the team’s training bubble in Baguio was also cut short after seven players and one member of the coaching staff caught the virus.
Now on a tight schedule as they have to make up for lost time, Ferrer and the rest of Perlas look to make every sacrifice worth it.
“But then ano, motivated naman yung team kahit na short yung bubble training, na nag quarantine rin kami na ‘di namin expected na extended hanggang ngayon sa Ilocos. We’ll push pa yung team namin to make all the sacrifices worth it talaga,” said the 5-foot-2 setter out of Ateneo.
“We’ll take it one game at a time and yung Chery alam naman natin na malakas sila, matatangkad sila so malaking adjustments ulit for tomorrow. Mas bibilisan namin yung kilos namin and hopefully we can rest well kasi sunod-sunod yung games namin e, back-to-back.”
