“The Phenom” returns!
Last Saturday, Bali Pure head coach Charo Soriano said that Alyssa Valdez will be in attendance during the Water Defenders game against the Iriga City Lady Oragons. However, due to a fortuitous event, Valdez just arrived in Manila at around 5:00pm and was not able to make it to the game due to the heavy traffic in Manila.
Keeping true to her word, Valdez, fresh off the airplane, made it to the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City during the third set of the UP Lady Maroons-Baguio Summer Spikers tilt.
“I just got off the plane as in ngayon lang,” a huffing and puffing Valdez said.
After knowing the predicament that her team is in right now, the 22 year old admitted that she is far from her ideal form. “My god! Kelangan ko talaga ma-kondisyon kasi one month lang ako nag-cacamp but walang active volleyball training,” she said.
“Same din sa ginagawa namin with sila Coach Tai so kailangan ko yung takbuhan, lahat kailangan kong gawin. Kelangan ko mag-double time dahil ang dami kong na-miss! Halos one month ako hindi nag-volleyball.”
Early in the day, the Water Defenders were down to just nine players. Coaches Charo Soriano and Alexa Micek, and as well as, Bea Tan were in Cagayan for the BVR Invitational while Ella De Jesus and Jem Ferrer had work. “Hindi maiiwasan yung commitments talaga namin. Hopefully, makumpleto kami at magkaroon kami ng connection yung mga schedules namin,” the multi-time UAAP MVP hoped. “Hindi naman sinasadya na mangyari yung ganiyan na hindi kami magkasama-sama sa training. Sana magawan namin ng paraan yung attendance namin.”
But still the thought of playing with former teammates, Ateneo legends, and her friends excited Valdez in exclaiming, “I’m super excited!”
“Imagine magiging teammates ko ulit sila Ella [De Jesus] at sila Denden [Lazaro]. Imagine magiging teammates ko din sila Ate Cha [Soriano], never ko talaga naging teammate siya at magiging coach ko pa. And then there’s other Ateneo players pa. Then with Grethcel [Soltones], Alyssa Eroa, and [Janine] Marciano pa. So sobrang I’m really looking forward to playing talaga.”
Valdez vowed to get back into shape and be back on Monday, June 13 when the Water Defenders face the UP Lady Maroons. “See you sa next game talaga!,” Valdez vowed.
Photo by Brosi Gonzales
