BELLA Belen issued an urgent call for more players to attend Alas Pilipinas Women training just weeks before the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games kick off on December 9 in Thailand.
“Hopefully, makapag-training na po lahat kasi mahirap mag-prepare nang ilang araw lang, lalo na yung mga kalaban po namin sa SEA Games matagal nang nagpe-prepare,” Belen told reporters after Capital1’s quarterfinal exit at the hands of ZUS Coffee in the 2025 PVL Reinforced Conference on Monday.
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Even throughout the group stage and while preparing for the playoffs, the three-time UAAP MVP made it a point to balance her duties with club and country.
But it was an admittedly tricky setup somewhat eased by having the same mentor, Jorge Souza de Brito, coaching both Capital1 and the national team.
“Nagte-training naman na po. Tuloy-tuloy po yung training ng Alas hanggang SEA Games,” she said.
“Kami sa Capital1, mga players, nagi-start naman. Paminsan-minsan nagte-training kami. Kapag wala kaming training sa Capital1, nagte-training po kami for the national team.”
The Brazilian coach earlier told SPIN.ph they have been running sessions with only two to four players consistently available, bumping up to five or six on better days.
But on Tuesday morning, Alas finally welcomed a major reinforcement in Alyssa Solomon.
Belen’s longtime National University partner returned to training after her Japan SV.League team Osaka Marvelous agreed to loan her midseason so she could suit up for the Philippines in the biennial meet.
Given the complicated timing of Solomon’s release, one that still played out in the end, Belen hopes more of her teammates will be cleared next.
“Kailangan mag-show up pa rin,” she stressed.
“Kasi sa SEA Games, kung sinuman po yung i-lineup, very deserving naman talaga lahat kahit hindi naman lagi na maglalaro or what.”
“Every time na makapasok ako sa court, I will make sure na I will do my best for the national team, for the Philippine flag.”
The expectation is that, in the coming days, the 14-woman roster will finally be completed, will report to training as a full group, and will be locked in for the country’s SEA Games campaign once and for all.
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