Zeal personified: V-League selection off to Vietnam for Asian Volleyball Confederation qualifiers
As the old adage goes: "when there is a will, there is a way". That’s how this intrepid group of twelve of some of the finest volleybelles in the country came together for a week’s training, and now they are bound for Vietnam.
After a series of events grounded the “Bomberinas”, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has tapped the services of the Sports Vision Management Group, Inc.—the same entity that operates the renowned Shakey’s V-league—to put together a squad that will represent the Philippines in the upcoming Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Southeastern Zonal Women’s Qualification Tournament for the 2014 World Championships in Italy. Sports Vision, despite the late commission, hastily brought together some of the stars that saw action in the recently concluded Shakey’s V-League 1st conference led by tournament MVP Din-Din Santiago and Finals MVP Rubie de Leon—both from the victorious National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs squad, and for the first time in eight years a team flies the Philippine colors in an international meet.
The formation of the team, coached by multi-titled Roger Gorayeb, came in just the nick of time as the organizers of the four-nation eliminator were already informed that the Philippines was withdrawing its participation in the said event, owing to many concerns leading up to the tournament which takes place on June 14-16 in Quang Tri, which is near Hanoi City in Vietnam.
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The AVC has been out to help the Philippines regain its place in Asian volleyball after not having participated in an international tournament since its hosting of the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Among the steps being taken by the AVC is inviting the Philippines to join tournaments within its region, but the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) has somehow not been able to field a team since.
That all was supposed to change this year with the formation of the Bomberinas which many observers claimed to be “a step in the right direction” for Philippine volleyball.
But when the Bomberinas lost in the championship game of the recently concluded Philippine National Games (PNG) to a club team representing the Philippine Air Force (PAF), many doubts were cast on the strength of the team that was formed prompting the PVF to “ground” the program and withdraw from any international competition until the internal matters were resolved.
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This alarmed the AVC and in a letter to former PSC official and FIVB Development Commission member Ramon Suzara by Shanrit Wongprasert of the AVC's Southeast Asian Zone, the body expressed disappointment that the local federation was not fielding a team--again. Wongprasert then went on to send a correspondence to POC Vice President Joey Romasanta informing him that there could be serious sanctions if the Philippines chose not to participate in this undertaking.
Seeing as sending the Bomberinas was no longer an option, the POC and PSC approached the one entity that could form a competitive team practically overnight and Sports Vision—through V-League Commissioner Tony Boy Liao responded and produced results.
“When we got word of what needed to be done, we immediately conferred and tapped the best resources we could: our own players,” Liao, the team’s manager explained during the recent send-off party for the contingent at Shakey’s Malate. “In fact, some of them got their passports only today (June 11), but they have been training for about a week and since they’ve just finished the championship last week, they’re still in game-shape and are ready to go.”
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The selection--which will have the Philippines emblazoned on its jerseys--is composed of twelve of the best players emerging from the V-League’s 1st conference, which includes most of its Filipino awardees: Santiago (Best Scorer), de Leon (Best Setter), NU’s Myla Pablo (Best Attacker), libero Jen Reyes (Best Digger), Ateneo’s Alyssa Valdez (Best Server) and UST’s Maika Ortiz (Best Blocker). Only Tigress Pam Lastimosa (Most Improved Player) and Thai Jaroensri Bualee (Best Receiver) were left out of the line-up.
Other members of the roster are former league MVP Suzanne Roces, UST captain and former Finals MVP Rhea Dimaculangan, Adamson veteran Pau Soriano, NU pagoda Jaja Santiago, De La Salle-Dasmariñas stalwart Iari Yongco and Perpetual Help’s crafty libero Jheck Dionela.
De Leon is the skipper while Edjet Mabbayad and Ariel de la Cruz of the champion Lady Bulldogs serve as Gorayeb’s assistants in this endeavour.
“There were many names we considered such as (Rachel Anne) Daquis and a few others,” Liao bared. “But this was the group that was ready and committed so we selected them.”
Daquis initially indicated that she would join the team, but due to initial uncertainty of the stint in the tournament, the former FEU lass had to make good on continuing with her annual visit to her mother in Hanover, Germany.
“They’ve been gelling very well,” Gorayeb noted, in the vernacular. “This is a highly competitive team and it looks like they will do very good.”
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“The funny part about the first days of training was getting used to Din-Din as an open-hitter,” de Leon, the team’s starting setter confided in Tagalog. “But I will have fun with both Din-Din and Alyssa (Valdez) up front. This is one strong team and all are committed to winning.”
To serve as an early challenge, the Philippines immediately takes on the host nation in it’s opening assignment on Friday (June 14) before taking on Myanmar and Indonesia. Only one team will advance to the Asian championships this September and the contingent knows it's in for an uphill climb.
“Vietnam has been a consistent Southeast Asian powerhouse,” Liao points out. “They will be the toughest assignment.”
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Several teams have already qualified for the Asian championship including fellow Asean neighbour Thailand, China, South Korea, Japan and Kazakhstan. Other regions have yet to hold their qualifiers.
“We beat Vietnam in the opener, we have a good chance,” de Leon states.
The road to volleyball redemption may be an arduous one for the Philippines, but this wily gang of warriors will now take the first actual steps in that direction. And while there are still a multitude of issues to address within the local ranks, for three days the V-League (Philippine) selection will do its best to unite a nation in a sport that the Filipino has become enamoured with.
Should they succeed, I foresee a gigantic degree of progress—in a shorter time than we can fathom. Let’s be inspired by their zeal. You go girls…
Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoedlZarate)
