ALAS Pilipinas did not leave the Asian Games with the finish they wanted, and captain Jia de Guzman is not about to pretend the gap with Asia's best could be closed overnight.
The Philippines finished ninth after losing its first two group-stage matches to China and Kazakhstan before sweeping Qatar, Mongolia, and Hong Kong in the classification stage.
For de Guzman, the campaign was another checkpoint for a national team still being built, with progress that needs to be measured over years rather than by tournaments.
READ: Alas escapes late Hong Kong scare, ends ninth in Asiad
"For us kasi, long-term talaga 'yung iniisip namin," de Guzman said.
“Before we can get that medal or be on the podium, we have to be consistently present in international tournaments, so that we know then how to play against teams like this."
The early losses provided a clear measure of the gap. China had won nine of the previous 11 Asiad women's volleyball titles, while Kazakhstan has been a regular presence in major international competitions.
That experience cannot simply be replicated in a single tournament, de Guzman said, particularly against teams with a clear advantage in size and speed.
"We can't expect na unang sabak pa lang sa teams like China, who's No. 7 in the world, and Kazakhstan, who's always present in big tournaments, na alam na namin agad kung paano makakalaban ng ganun katangkad at ganun kabilis," she said.
Keep at it
Closing that gap, then, requires the Philippines to keep putting the same group in those situations instead of relying on isolated international appearances.
“For us to get used to playing against teams like that, we have to keep playing and we have to expose the same team over and over again until we can win against teams like that," the always amiable skipper said.
"Same way that Thailand had to go up against teams like that in order to become AVC Continental Champion and go into the Olympics, It takes years to do that, so we do need a lot of support and a lot more experience as a team to be able to go up against powerhouses like that."
Alas ultimately settled for ninth, its lowest finish in six Asian Games appearances, but recovered from its group-stage exit with three straight sweeps in the classification.
And this finish, in de Guzman's eyes, is one marker in a longer cycle. The priority is to keep this core together, get more high-level matches and let each international window build on the last.
The hope is that those repetitions eventually move the Philippines from simply learning how to play against the continent's best to being able to beat them.
“We're seeing results, we're seeing the small steps from within the team na naaabot namin 'yung goals namin, and we're very proud of that, and we just want to stay grounded," she said.
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