Besides the glory of winning the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino crown, the first conference of the league this season will have one more thing at stake: a slot at the Philippine team that is set to compete in the 2016 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship.
“The plan is to have seven players coming from the PSL and six coming from the FIVB,” the league’s events director Dr. Ian Laurel shared Thursday afternoon. “Kung sino man sila, we will start sending invitations for a tryout to identify the team.”
“We will have a special production to announce the players, one each week starting July, who will get the golden ticket to the FIVB World Club Championships.”
Some of the invitations for the tryouts that will be held on Friday, June 24 have already been handed out according to some players. With this new dimension added to the tournament, the representatives of each team present during the press conference admitted that the opportunity to represent the country has been at the back of their minds since it was announced.
“I think we are all aware about the worlds at hindi namin makakalimutan yung great opportunity na iyon,” Foton’s Angeli Araneta said.
The Standard Insurance-Navy Corvettes and the Cignal HD Spikers already have two representatives for the tryouts according to Florence Madulid and Carmela Tunay. “Sa dalawa naming representatives sa team, lagi namin sinasabi na galingan nila at gawin nila yung best nila sa tryouts,” Madulid added.
“Sabi ni coach Sam [Acaylar] sa mga players na na-invite sa tryouts, ‘ayusin mo yan kasi baka hindi ka makasali sa worlds,'” Tunay quipped. “Meron talagang extra push and aside from that, nagiging extra instrument sa team yun in preparation for the tournament.”
RC Cola-Army’s Jovelyn Gonzaga closed it out best in saying that it does not matter who gets in or from whatever team she comes from. “We will give our best naman kahit sino man mapili sa amin. One for Philippine Volleyball!”
With just seven golden passes at stake, expect each player to compete at their best in each match to prove to the “powers that be” that they deserve a shot at representing the country.
The 2016 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship will be the tenth edition of the event. It will be held for the first time in the Philippines and will be held on October 18-23, 2016 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
