Barroca eager to prove he’s an Ironman in own right despite nursing injury
3 min readMAGNOLIA guard Mark Barroca has no plans to miss games after sustaining a calf injury last week that put his consecutive games streak in jeopardy.
Mark Barroca injury update
Barroca suffered a calf injury during Friday’s match against Converge and didn’t play for a majority of the contest.
The Magnolia guard played on Wednesday for 20 minutes and finished with eight points and two rebounds in the Hotshots’ 80-77 win over NorthPort while extending his streak of games played to 496.
With a grueling schedule with San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra as Magnolia’s opponents on Friday and Sunday, Barroca said he plans to play to help the team.
“Wala,” said Barroca, when asked if he plans to skip games. “Pagkatapos naman, malayo pa ‘yung game uli namin. One week. Doon na lang ako magpapahinga siguro.”
Only LA Tenorio has a longer streak than Barroca with 701 to hold the distinction as the league’s Ironman.
A player that has escaped serious injury that enabled him to sustain a streak of games played, Barroca considers this calf issue as his worst in his career. But the 36-year-old said his situation is getting better with rest.
“Biglaan lang eh. Mag-isa pa ako. Nagulat nga ako eh. Pag-extend ko kay Stockton, parang may pumitik. Hindi tuloy ako naka-layup. Hindi mo talaga maiiwasan ang disgrasya. So far, getting better hindi katulad nung last game. Nanigas talga sobra. May pain pa rin. Pero siguro ‘yung pain ngayon, nasa bandang 6, 7. Hindi katulad noon na 10 talaga. Gusto ko man pumasok, hindi ako makalakad ng maayos. Parang may nagbabara sa calf ko,” said Barroca.
Barroca admitted he is not yet 100 percent but suited up with Magnolia facing the possibility of opening the season 0-3 with another loss to NorthPort.
“Hindi ako 100 percent. Naninigas talaga kanina. Nandito lang naman ako. Ayoko lang na katulad nung sa Converge na kailangan namin ng guard,” said Barroca, referring to the time that he was unable to play that led to an 87-82 loss in overtime to the FiberXers.
“Puwede talagang ipahinga talaga. Pero 0-2 eh. Desperate na kami. Iba ‘yung 0-3 kesa 1-2. Kailangang maglaro. May dalawang games pa kami na back-to-back,” Barroca said.
“Masaya kami na nanalo. Masakit man, pagod, pero worth it naman,” he added.
