By Nick Giongco Seven marquee national sports associations shared the belief that Filipino athletes have to keep pace with the rest of the world as lockdown measures are starting to loosen up amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Patafa chief Philip Ella Juico (MB File Photo) A meeting initiated by the Philippine Track and Field Association (Patafa) was attended by the NSAs of basketball, football, gymnastics, volleyball, karatedo and rugby recently. Patafa chief Philip Juico said the group agreed that a protocol should be put in place for the safety of athletes, coaches and all other involved parties relative to the resumption of practice and even the holding of events. Joining Juico during the one-and-a-half hour meeting were Sonny Barrios of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, Cynthia Carrion of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, Richard Lim of karatedo, Ada Milby and Jake Letts of rugby, Ariel Paredes of the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas and football main man and Tokyo Olympics chief of mission Nonong Araneta. Juico said a guideline will be crafted and submitted to the Inter-Agency Task Force in the hopes that the athletes, who have been sidelined since March, could head back to training as their counterparts from other countries have actually returned to training mode. NSAs that are having difficulty formulating a guideline are advised to come up with a detailed program for their respective athletes since a protracted layoff would affect an athlete’s competitive mindset and put to waste the country’s success in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. The official guideline will be submitted to the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee before it ends up on the lap of the IATF, the government arm that will decide on the matter.