U16 girls show value of starting ‘em young
AMMAN, Jordan—After making waves in their first-ever international campaign at the 2nd Asian Volleyball Confederation Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship, the Alas Pilipinas girls continue to dream big as they strive to achieve more for the country.
They couldn’t get a more perfect opportunity to reach for more success.
Because of the team’s finish and China’s automatic qualification as defending champion, the young Alas Pilipinas squad booked a berth to the U17 world championship, according to Philippine National Volleyball Federation president Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
Four Asian teams normally qualify for the World Championships, but since China was among the Final Four contestants in this edition’s U16 tournament, the Philippines, as the fifth placer, took the berth of the Chinese.
It’s a huge schievement for this group of high school players from different provinces, who proved the importance of starting the national program young.
And although the Filipinos lost tough matches against Asian powerhouses, those defeats did not diminish the way they stayed with tougher rivals in the Asian U16 championship—a competition which they had only two weeks to prepare.
Even so, setter Resty Jane Olaguir is already setting a higher standard.
“We need to set higher goals than what we’ve already achieved and give our best for the upcoming international games,” Olaguir told the Inquirer in Filipino. “We still need to keep giving our all and continue training hard.”
“It’s about how we handle the pressure and maintain the discipline in the way we play.”
Her teammate from Gracel Christian College Foundation in Taguig, Jhenica Sadia, experienced all of her firsts here. But now that she has overcome the jitters of playing against other countries, she and the other young Alas girls want to keep competing in the higher age groups and even the senior level when their time comes.
“That’s everyone’s dream, so we’ll keep working harder to reach an even higher level.”
For team captain Xyz Rayco, the team’s biggest gain was overcoming being intimidated by stronger opponents.
“I learned how to be brave and to trust myself that I can do it,” said Rayco, the team’s leading scorer. “This is my first [international tournament] experience and I didn’t expect that we would reach this far. I’m really grateful to have been part of it.”
