Cheer, trust your team, Barros tells PH volley fans
The moment Brazilian volleyball icon-turned-senator Leila Barros stepped into the Mall of Asia Arena, her longtime fans, the current generation and the press felt a wave of nostalgia from the passion she ignited for Philippine volleyball during the 2000 and 2004 FIVB Grand Prix.
Barros, who led Brazil to a bronze in 2000 and was part of the gold medal team in 2004, still has the charisma and unforgettable smile that melted the hearts of the Filipinos, who treated her as a goddess in volleyball gear in her stints here.
Now a member of the Brazilian senate, Barros, who turns 54 on Tuesday, remembers the cheers and banners waved at her back in the day, with some of them wanting her to be the PH president and others simply saying marriage proposals.
“The memory that stands out the most. It is the natural empathy I felt as soon as I entered the stadium with Filipino people,” said Barros through a translator.
“It’s funny that when I was here, people were having signs saying ‘Leila for president’ [and Leila, Marry Me] and it sounds like they could see my future that I will actually become a senator for Brazil.”
Barros is a special guest of the 32-nation FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, and her arrival certainly couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I believe this is the moment when Filipino volleyball is growing,” said Barros. “We have Brazilians working here, in this great championship.”
Barros is also keeping tabs on the country that showed her so much love, and the once-prolific spiker who charmed her way into Philippine consciousness has nothing but nice words to say.
“I am starting to follow Filipinos’ [international competitions] more closely,” she said. “Certainly, as I said, in the medium term, we will already see the Philippines in some way standing on the podium, making its mark in championships.
“Be patient, cheer and trust your team.”
