PVF: Final national volleyball team tryouts set on September 27, Ateneo to join

NU’s Jaja Santiago dunks during downtime in the Philippine national volleyball team tryouts (Photo: Ehm Batac)

With the new programs being set by the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) in full swing, one of its immediate goals is the formation of a solid national team pool not only in the seniors ranks, but across all age divisions as sanctioned by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and the FIVB.

This is the mandate of the PVF leadership that conducted the four-day national team tryouts a few weeks back, led by its president Karl Chan and its secretary general Rustico “Otie” Camangian, as well as officials from telecommunication giant PLDT; the staunchest supporter of the sport.

PVF SecGen Otie Camangian addresses the aspirants while coaches Norman Miguel and Kung Fu Reyes look on (Photo: Aisa Estuista)

“This process not only aims to create a competitive team for both the men’s and women’s divisions in the (upcoming Singapore) SEA Games, but also to create a lasting national team program that will be discovering talents for the age group competitions,” Chan explained during the women’s tryouts at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium (NAS) in Manila.

“From these tryouts, we also hope to form pools in the Under-19 (U19), Under-21 (U21) and Under-23 (U23) age groups,” Camangian said. “It is common knowledge already that the country will be hosting the AVC U23 Women’s Championship in May, 2015 so Filipino fans will have something to look forward to and a competitive squad to cheer for.”

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The Under-17 (U17) teams will be formed separately, but will be handled by University of the Philippines (UP) Head Coach Jerry Yee.

"I believe coach Jerry is the best man for the job,” Chan expressed.

More than a hundred aspirants in both the men’s and women’s division flocked to the NAS to take part in the selection process, under the watchful eye of newly appointed coaches in the University of Santo Tomas’ (UST) Odjie Mamon for the men’s squad and multi-titled De La Salle University (DLSU) mentor Ramil de Jesus.

Newly appointed national women’s team Head Coach Ramil de Jesus with volleyball ambassadress Gretchen Ho and PVF PR chief Michelle Datuin (Photo: Beverly Laurete-Hawksworth)

“I’m honored to have the opportunity (to coach the men’s team),” Mamon said. “But the support of all the coaches here is also a blessing.”

A veritable who’s who in the volleyball coaching realm all joined hands for the process, with no egos or agendas at hand. Among those who were there were Philippine Army’s Rico de Guzman and Emilio “Kung Fu” Reyes, Petron’s George Pascua, UST men’s team’s Emil Lontoc, Cagayan Valley assistant coach Norman Miguel, Far Eastern University’s (FEU) Shaq de los Santos along with a phalanx of the very best in their field.

“Ang ganda nitong nangyayari para sa Volleyball sa Pilipinas,” Pascua shared. “Tignan mo naman kaming lahat, solid ang suporta. Kahit sinong maging Head Coach suportado natin.”

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Conspicuously absent, however, were members of the UAAP men’s division runners-up and women’s division champions Ateneo de Manila University. The clamor for such elite names such as Rex Intal, Marck Espejo, Den-Den Lazaro and Alyssa Valdez has had social media buzzing and some have even started creating stories about their collective non-appearance.

Alyssa Valdez was among those who were not able to attend the tryouts (Photo: Ramil Basical)

“We just have a logistical problem coming here,” Ateneo volleyball program director Sherwin Malonzo—who was also present during the tryouts—explained. “Our students’ classes end at around 4-4:30 and our campus is quite far. We want to join the national team tryouts as well.”

The PVF is now on the cusp of making that a reality as it has set a third and final tryout date to accommodate those who were not able to show up in the initial sorties. Some of those who tried out in the first wave will also be asked to come back to join the finale.

The final tryout date is set for September 27th, once again at the NAS with the men’s division slated for 4PM-7PM and the distaff side takes the court from 7PM-10PM. The public is encouraged to witness the proceedings from the stands. With this development (and with the proceedings now being placed on a Saturday), both the men’s and women’s players from Ateneo can now take part.

“We want to make sure no stone is left unturned in our search for the best team,” Camangian said. “There are certain names we want to see go through the process and I’m quite sure the volleyball fans also want to see the best players make the team.”

Philippine Air Force arrived in full force (Photo: Aisa Estuista)

Also absent from the initial process were former national team campaigners Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Pau Soriano as well as former UAAP Finals MVP Michele Gumabao; names that were on the “select invitees” list of the PVF.

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Among the marquee names that made their presence felt were Howard Mojica, Mark Gil Alfafara, Peter Den Mar Torres and reigning PSL MVP Ran-Ran Abdilla in the men’s side while the Santiago sisters, reigning PSL MVP Tina Salak and Shakey’s V-League MVP Rachel Anne Daquis headlined the women’s group.

Special notice was taken when San Sebastian’s Gretchel Soltones and FEU’s Bernadeth Pons played on the same scrimmage as teammates, however. They may form the core of the U21 team and may even get a chance to see action in the U23 squad. Also noticeable was the strong performance of 17-year-old Ennajie “EJ” Laure of UST and reigning UAAP Best Blocker Kathy Bersola—who is only 18. These two, along with 6’6” behemoth Jaja Santiago, 18, could form the core of the U19 women’s team.

No cuts have been made as of yet by the coaching staff.

But check out the ages of some of the budding names in Philippine women’s volleyball today (those who showed up at the tryouts):

EJ Laure, 17

Jaja Santiago, 18

Kathy Bersola, 18

Nicole Tiamzon, 18,

Frances Molina, 19

Ara Galang, 19

Kim Fajardo, 20

Ria Meneses, 18

Mylene Paat, 20

Mika Reyes, 20

Mia Sambrano, 19

Tin Agno, 20

Ivy Perez, 19

Cyd Demecillo, 20

Gretchel Soltones, 19

Bernadeth Pons, 18

And add to this list the teenage core of the Lady Eagles in Jia Morado, Michelle Morente, Bea de Leon, Maddie Madayag, Karen Derder and Therese Gaston, then you have a very, very deep pool of talent for the U21 already.

17-year-old EJ Laure can be the cornerstone for the U19 squad (Photo: Arnold Z. Cruz)

Needless to say, adding names like Valdez, Gumabao and Pineda also makes the U23 squad quite formidable.

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Volleyball is on a renaissance, no doubt about that. But with the mantra of the PVF in developing a sustaining program for international competitions—backed, of course, by PLDT—it won’t be long before the Philippines re-emerges on the Asian volleyball map. The rise might even come sooner than many think.

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com