With only a handful of countries in the hunt for the 30th Southeast Asian Games’ women’s volleyball title, the tournament has veered away from the bracketing system. Instead, it has applied a single-round format on the five-nation field.
Still, Philippine Women’s National Volleyball Team head coach Shaq Delos Santos knows all too well that the climb to the summit will be arduous regardless of the competition’s scheme.
“I think parehas lang siya mahirap kasi alam naman natin ang mga kalaban, sobrang consistent sila, especially for their national team,” Delos Santos bared. “Tayo kasi medyo nag-start ulit, nagre-recover ulit, nagbubuo ulit ng team. Pero definitely gagawin namin ‘yung best namin para dito sa SEA Games, especially dito [sa bansa] gagawin.
“Parang ganito ‘yun eh, knockout, knockout. So talagang kailangan bibigay mo ‘yung one hundred percent.”
Indeed, the Nationals will have to put their best foot forward at all times, and rack up as many victories as they can in the preliminaries against a competitive pack spearheaded by long-reigning queen Thailand, along with Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore.
The top two nations will be the only ones given the chance to battle for gold in the biennial regional meet in November. Meanwhile, the third and fourth-seeded countries compete for bronze.
“Limited lang ‘yung teams na sumali, so prepare lang kasi hindi naman na bago sa atin ‘yung mga kalaban. I don’t know kung may magiging adjustments sila sa line-up, pero for us, malaking factor na nakalaban namin sila twice sa ASEAN Grand Prix and na-gauge namin ‘yung team namin,” Delos Santos pointed out.
He then added, “So, may chance kami na mas makapag-prepare and ma-adjust pa rin ‘yung team para doon sa mga competitive teams na makakalaban namin. So hopefully, makapag-prepare kami ng mas maayos.”
This has been a fruitful time for the contingents of the Philippines. They first took part in an extensive training camp in Thailand. The Filipinas then put their abilities to the test against all of the SEA Games’ participants — except Singapore — in two sequential legs of the ASEAN Grand Prix.
“Doon namin nakita na andami pa naming kailangang ayusin, and maganda ‘yung future nung team. Malaki pa ‘yung pwedeng marating,” he shared.
“Malayo pa. Kailangan lang mag-improve pa, mag-gain kami ng more experience, especially international tournaments and training camps.”
There is no question that Delos Santos and his wards’ buildup to the multi-nation tournament has been at full throttle. Having picked up valuable experiences, the country’s delegates will head to Japan for another training camp from October 20 to November 2, which includes scrimmages against Japanese club and varsity teams.
