TNT recovery food: No rice

TNT consultant Mark Dickel, who traces his roots to New Zealand and Australia, is out to make sure all’s well with the KaTropa – on and off the court.

“It also concerns nutrition,” said TNT team manager Virgil Villavicencio yesterday.

Dickel wants a say on what the players eat, especially for their post-practice recovery food or at least when he’s around.

In last Monday’s team practice at the Moro Lorenzo Gym in Loyola, the recovery food consisted of chicken, kangkong (water spinach) and eggs.

“No rice,” said Villavicencio, adding that the players will now have to adjust to the system.

“We’ve done this before, and the players are aware of proper nutrition. The only thing is that there’s no rice for their post-practice food,” said Villavicencio. Villavicencio said no one’s really complaining. “No problem,” he said of Dickel, who helped call the shots with new head coach Bong Ravena, and enjoyed his PBA debut with a 110-104 win over Rain or Shine in Iloilo City.

Well, there nearly was a problem in the game against Rain or Shine when Dickel called a timeout with only six seconds left and the issue settled.

It did not sit well with Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia, who had some words for the TNT consultant after the final buzzer.

Villavicencio said Dickel meant no harm when he called the late timeout.

“He did not know he was not supposed to because the game was settled. He only had two things in mind. He knew of the quotient system and he wanted to execute a play,” said Villavicencio. “He said he was sorry.”