Skipper Jia confident experience will bolster Alas PH
Jia de Guzman thinks Alas Pilipinas can weather the difficulties it has endured and end a 20-year medal drought in women’s volleyball in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games starting next week in Thailand.
The national squad has had difficulties in its preparations, but the Alas team captain is confident that the experience the team gained from competing in Asian and Southeast Asian tournaments since last year will make up for whatever shortcomings in training they have had leading up to the biennial meet.
“I think every SEA Games, I’ve experienced different challenges,” De Guzman told the reporters during the Philippine National Volleyball Federation’s send-off to its national teams on Saturday.
“I think we kind of expected that the preparation leading up to the SEA Games was going to be a very big challenge. We knew there were tournaments for both professional [players] and [varsity standouts] that would happen before the SEA Games. So, those were out of our control.
“But what we could control was to tell the girls to stay healthy. That no matter where you are training, always keep in mind that you are training for a higher purpose. And that is the SEA Games.”
“[We believe] that when [everyone goes] back [to] Alas Pilipinas … we can jell together and everyone [will be] ready,” she said.
Open vs Thais
For the two-time AVC Nations Cup Best Setter, it’s easy to lead a team with young stars like Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon, Angel Canino and Shaina Nitura.
She called Alas “a safe space” where “everyone can speak up freely and communicate with each other freely.”
“It’s easier for us in terms of communication, especially with the short preparations that we’ve been getting,” De Guzman said
De Guzman and Alas have won three bronze medals in the AVC Nations Cup and two SEA V.League legs.
This year, the national team made it to the Nations Cup final before losing to powerhouse Vietnam and settling for silver, followed by two bronze medals in the SEA V.League anew.
“We’ve gone up against some of the teams that we’re going to play against this SEA Games. We gained confidence from there and familiarity with each other because we’ve been playing together since last year,” De Guzman said. “The system is there. It’s just, I guess, compared to last year’s AVC, we only have maybe three days to prepare and the whole tournament to make in-game adjustments.”
Also part of the team are Akari’s Mars Alba, Eya Laure, Cignal’s Vanie Gandler, PLDT’s Alleiah Malaluan and Dell Palomata, Amie Provido of La Salle and Maddie Madayag of Choco Mucho, liberos Dawn Catindig of Cignal and Justine Jazareno of Akari.
The team will open its SEA Games campaign against defending champion Thailand on Dec. 11 before facing Singapore on Dec. 12.
“The SEA Games is a long-standing tradition for us, so we know how important it is to give our best—because we’re carrying the whole nation with us,” she said.
