Philippine volleyball teams for future international competitions will no longer be in the hands of the coaching staff alone.
Tats Suzara, president of the newly-formed Philippine National Volleyball Federation, Inc., said selecting the players for international meets will now fall under the PNVF national team committee.
“This department will be in charge of this. The coach will no longer be the only one to choose the players,” said Suzara during Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
Suzara said the committee with its own chairman, secretary, and five members will handle everything that concerns the national team for events like the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, and other FIVB events.
In the past, the federation names the head coach, who then has free hand in calling for tryouts and naming the members of the men’s and women’s volleyball teams.
Suzara will sit as co-chairman of the committee.
The PNVFI held its elections last month and this early has earned the full recognition of the FIVB, the world governing body in the sport, taking the place of the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) and Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF).
Suzara, a member of the FIVB marketing committee and head of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) marketing and development committee, said he’d like to see a bigger pool of national players.
“So, we can change players anytime,” he told the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, MILO, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and powered by SMART.
Besides this, Suzara wants a foreign head coach for the men’s, women’s, and beach volleyball national teams.
Suzara is eyeing either a Brazilian or a European coach to take over all the programs. Not just as consultant, but a full-time head coach who will also serve as program director.
“Yung Korean women’s team has an Italian head coach (Stefan Lavarini). They qualified for the Olympics. The national teams in Asia are open to having a foreign head coach. Lan Ting maybe a Chinese head coach but her mindset is American. All her assistants are American,” said Suzara.
“We have to open our minds to foreign head coaches. I want a Brazilian head coach to take over for the next two years and transfer the knowledge to our local coaches. We want to bring in European head coaches as well.”
Back in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Shaq Delos Santos was the coach of the women’s team, while Dante Alinsunurin was in charge for the men’s. The men’s team took silver in the regional meet.
