THERE might be a downside to fielding national team players who lack experience in international play, but such naivety could also be an asset in pursuit of fostering stars for the future.
One person who knows a thing or two about handling both emerging and decorated players in the continental level is Alas Pilipinas beach volleyball head coach Joao Luciano Kioday.
A compatriot of Alas Women shot-caller Jorge Souza de Brito, the 45-year-old Brazilian carries 15 years of coaching experience, handling the likes of Olympic beach volleyball champions Kelly Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat.
And with a young group of Alas players still earning their stripes on the world stage, Kioday pointed out how experience will always be the best teacher for a national team program with such high long-term aspirations.
Proof of this is the upset win of Alas’ 18 and 19-year-old rising stars Khylem Progella and Sofiah Pagara over No. 5-seeded Shauna Polley and Olivia MacDonald of New Zealand in pool play of the 2024 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships.
READ: Alas Women pairs impress in Asian Beach Volleyball debuts
“We were against one of the best teams here, the New Zealand team. We were playing on the same level with them and I'm so happy for us to be on that level of beach volleyball,” said Kioday.
“With Sofiah and Khy, there’s much potential in these athletes, players in the game. But still, you see in the afternoon [loss to Australia], they are still lacking experience in that level of competition.”
A time and Ace for everything
Both hailing from the University of Santo Tomas, Kioday knows it will take time for the pair to grow out of their collegiate shells and blossom as Philippine team mainstays.
And it’s a waiting game he’s more than willing to play.
“The level they train to play is like in the UAAP. That is different. It’s the college level. Here, it’s professional level. You can’t play just one good game. You have to be consistently good and increase your level every game, but they totally have the potential and they’ll be able to learn more in the future."
Kioday furthered, “They are 18 and 17 years old. It's beautiful when things begin to work out for them, if they play happy, and the energy is there. They are used to different environment of competition.”
Experience aside, the best thing Alas’ budding stars can pick up from competing against some of Asia’s finest teams is the reality check that there’s still a long way to go in order for good to become great.
“They are used to different environment of competition. The competition they are like used to have, they are the best team. Here, they are just one of the teams looking for a place in this world here where everybody wants to fight each other. That's the real thing,” Kioday explained.
“Everybody now thinks about what’s next. The next has to be better because the more you win, the more your level gets higher, the more people know about you, and the more you have to perform better and better and better.”
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