Solid finishes have raised the profile of Alas Pilipinas. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/AVC
What Alas Pilipinas achieved of late has obviously jacked up expectations from this country that has suddenly been enamored with women’s volleyball.
And the gritty Nationals, fresh from a first-ever silver medal in the tough AVC Nations Cup, are ready to take on the challenge as a team, the very formula that has brought them success since the squad was built last year.
“Of course we’re very very happy with the result,” captain Jia de Guzman said. “We know it’s easy to say that we are achieving greater heights.
“But we know that we will have to overcome more difficult situations that will come our way for us to reach the top because that’s what the other teams had to go through to get there,” she added.
The “top” De Guzman refers to is the Southeast Asian Games, the 33rd edition of which to be held in Thailand in December, where the Filipinos will not have the support of a home crowd that treats its women’s volleyball team there with so much love.
But before that, the squad will play in two legs of the fifth SEA V.League next month and in August, and coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito said that they will prepare for these as hard as they can before they march on to the battle that counts the most.
“Those are gonna be hard (tournaments) because all of those top teams that we will be meeting [are tough],” De Brito said in the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.
“But of course, we’re gonna play with pride and expectations are getting high because we’re getting the results now. But it’s gonna be hard. We will prepare for this moment.”
The potential of the team to scale even greater heights seems to increase by the year, as evidenced by two bronze medal finishes and that silver effort.
“This is just our second year together as a pool, as a team, so we know that we still have a lot to go through and this AVC was different compared to the AVC last year,” De Guzman, who will return to Creamline after a two-year stint in Japan, said.
With everything they achieved, things aren’t going to get easier as expectations and pressure for them to keep on delivering rise. But they are committed to keep on pushing as they strive all for PH pride.
“We’re trying to keep the team very grounded and humble despite the success because the process is what’s giving the team the results,” De Guzman said. “If we look at [that high goal] immediately, there’s so much pressure that comes with it.
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“But, of course, yes, we will fight for that podium finish as we always do in every tournament.” INQ