Canino, La Salle aim to end ‘heartbreak after heartbreak’
Angel Canino believes La Salle needs to push itself beyond its comfort zone if the school wants to reclaim the UAAP women’s volleyball crown.
And she intends to show the way by example.
“I’m very eager to the point that we want to push ourselves, not just where we’re comfortable and not just where the team is comfortable,” Canino said in a preseason video interview distributed to media outlets on Tuesday. “Maybe because heartbreak after heartbreak, the feeling is really different … [W]e almost got the championship last year, so we really [need] to work on [the things where we fell short] last season.”
La Salle lost to NU in the Finals last season as the Lady Bulldogs capped a run where they won three of the last four women’s volleyball crowns.
The coming UAAP season will add another layer of responsibility on the shoulders of Canino and her fellow seniors.
Back to basics
“Maybe what you can expect from us is to be an [older sister] inside the court … not just [teaching] skills, but [also guiding] the kids inside,” she said. “Because now, it’s our fourth year, we’re the seniors.”
“[A]lmost all the kids are depending on us. So we have to act as the typical Lady Spikers … and show the kids [what it takes to be] Lady Spikers. Because that’s the only thing that will bring us back to the championship.”
For now, it’s back to basics for La Salle, which is hoping to turn last season’s defeat into lessons that will help them overcome the final hurdle to the throne.
“For our offense, we always work on that as a team. And maybe what happened last year is not one person’s fault, but it really depends on the whole team,” she said.
“Now … it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old; I can say confidently that they [everybody wants] to contribute.
“And even if there are mistakes inside the court, we are able to recover and still have confidence. Because before, that was also what we lacked as a team. We immediately lost confidence [when something went wrong].
“So now, we try to change our environment, our character, so that no matter what happens, even if we make mistakes, even if we’re young or old, we can bring ourselves back.”
