San Miguel Beermen’s star center, June Mar Fajardo, will not be joining his team in the bubble in Clark, Pampanga on October 9.
The PBA will be making its return in a few weeks after the PBA Board of Governors announced that the league will have its own bubble to resume the 2020 Philippine Cup.
Although, players gave their support to the PBA bubble idea, the six-time MVP of the league won’t be entering the PBA bubble as he will continue his therapy here in Metro Manila.
According to San Miguel head coach Leo Austria, Fajardo wanted to join the team in Clark but he won’t be able to do his therapy in the bubble, hence why his request was denied.
“ ’Di na kailangan, kasi limited lang yung number of people allowed. Although, gusto niya sumama kasi lagi lang sya sa bahay e. Kaso ‘di sya makaka-rehab dun and here he’s doing well. He’s already doing some aqua therapy and yung ibang pinagagawa saknya ng PT (Physical Therapist) naming,” said Austria in an exclusive interview.
“I just keep reminding him na wag mag madali because this is already a giveaway to him,” he added.
The six-foot-10, Cebuano big-man suffered a complete fracture on his right tibia during a team practice in February. Weeks before the initial start of the season.
Fajardo has been posting videos of himself working out and slowly building his body during the pandemic. He has also kept himself busy by gaming as he put up his own YouTube channel and gaming page on Facebook entitled Ahos Gaming.
At the time Fajardo was ruled out for the rest of the season and will stay out despite having extended rest because of the shutdown due to the pandemic.
“According to the recommendation of our doctors, he will need 10-12 months bago magkaron ng physical activities siya, ngayon seven months pa lang siya. So ‘di pa siya pwede kasi di pa sya nakakajogging e, puro lang sya stationary workout, so he’s definitely out for the season,” said Austria.
The eight-time PBA Champion Coach expressed his appreciation to the Board and to Commissioner Willie Marcial for pushing through the idea and saving the 2020 season.
“The concept na ginawa ng PBA is a great decision for teams. At first tatlo yung pinag iisipan and yung dito sa Pampanga is the best option. I’m so thankful to the Governors and to Commissioners because they really tried their best to save season 45,” Austria stated.
Austria said that everyone on the team are healthy and have been itching to play five-on-five since the teams are only allowed to do some shooting drills during practice and only four players per batch are allowed to in the gym.
He also stated that his main concern is that his players might play too much once they entered the bubble and might injure themselves in the process.
“The players actually are always asking, “Coach kalian tayo magkakaroon ng scrimmage?” kasi naiinip na sila e and that’s one of my concerns heading into the bubble. Because they didn’t get to play five-on-five and they might get to eager to play and ma-sobrahan sa limit yung laro and ma-injured,” said Austria.
San Miguel will enter the bubble with a 1-0 record since they got the win in the first game of the season before the shutdown against Magnolia Hotshots, 94-78.
