(by Steve Hopkins, photo is from ITTF, Marangely Gonzalez photographer)
Stringent lockdown measures that have been in place across all of Puerto Rico since March 15th were lifted last week. The Puerto Rican National Team wasted no time in implementing their training plan and bringing a dozen of their Men’s and Women’s players to a carefully monitored facility.
Each of the players and coaches took a COVID-19 viral test to check for current infection. This established a baseline for their training group that insured no one within the group was infected. This is similar to what American professional basketball and football are planning for their upcoming seasons – establishing “bubbles” of safe spaces where players can train and live where the risk of exposure is minimized.
For the Puerto Rican Team, temperature screenings are occurring daily, cleaning within the facility occurs daily, cleaning of equipment occurs after each session, masks are being worn in common areas, and hands and shoes and cleaned when one enters the facility.
For Brian Afanador, Daniel Gonzalez, Angel Naranjo, Gabriel Perez, Richard Pietri, Dereck Valentin, Yadriel Villanueva, Adriana Diaz, Melanie Diaz, Fabiola Diaz, Daniely Rios and Kristal Torres, they are now past the isolation of the lockdown and once again working to maximize their potential at the tables.
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