A PROFESSIONAL athlete is defined as someone who plays sports for a living. They either compete individually or as part of a team, with regular training and practices for optimum performance and skills improvement.
A semi-professional athlete, on the other hand, also plays sports but not full time. They can have other jobs when they’re not playing. They are also paid but at a lower rate than the pros. And like the pros, they are not amateurs simply because they receive regular payment from their teams.
This brings us to the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) memo which states that those who chose to play in other pro leagues shall be considered as “ex-pros” upon their return to the MPBL. They will be subjected to limitations as indicated on the league’s by-laws.
Often, implementing rules and guidelines of leagues are more complicated than our country’s constitution that there will be lesser room for negotiations or considerations. But the coronavirus disease 2019 had brought us in a unique situation that adjustments to the rule should be made.
I would say that MPBL – founded by Sen. Manny Pacquiao and backed by his massive resources and several other stakeholders – is on stable ground. A start-up league like the VisMin Super Cup should get the support of the MPBL, the Philippine Basketball Association, and the other big leagues as surely, they will be sending their scouts to the games and check on prospects.
To quote the MPBL commissioner (one of the better ex-pros the PBA had produced) on the decision of some teams and players joining the VisMin Cup, “We understand them since we’re in a pandemic and the players have to make a living.”
Putting that “understand” to its proper perspective and the need for players to “make a living,” the league should do some tweaks on their by-laws to accommodate the desire of these teams and players to earn in the VisMin Cup since it is off-season for the MPBL. Only then can that “understand” be fully understood.
The MPBL had become a haven for ex-pros needing another shot with the PBA. It is also a pool for untapped talents, likewise, the VisMin Cup will surely be having unpolished gems from the Visayas and Mindanao areas that would be good materials for the big leagues. Complex league rules make things, well, complicated.
Instead of being a hindrance to the newest basketball league, the MPBL should extend some beneficial assistance. Then everybody is happy.
Semi-pro or pro? To be or not to be, that is the question./PN
