IS it due time for an expanded national collegiate league?
For Petro Gazz head of volleyball operations Oliver Almadro, now more than ever’s the right time.
Handling two concurrent women’s volleyball teams in the University of the Philippines from the UAAP and NCAA’s Letran, he sees a 'joint league' as a much-welcome development just when Philippine volleyball is hitting new highs.
READ: Creamline readies for life without Jema in PVL Reinforced Conference
At the same time, the abundance of top-caliber talent outside the big leagues - as proven by the inaugural PVL Rookie Draft Combine - only goes to show that exposing players from outside the UAAP and NCAA is imperative in sustaining the sport’s astronomical ascent.
“(Apart) from the UAAP, NCAA, I guess, it’s about time na magkaroon ng joint league para malaman talaga ‘yung (level of play). Sometimes, ‘yung NCAA, na-uunderrate eh,” said Almadro.
“We know naman that the UAAP is at a much higher level, but you cannot underestimate kasi the NCAA players, the provincial players, kasi talagang the volleyball here in the country is really growing. The level’s going up.”
“These players (in the PVL Draft Combine) are talented. Some players nga, hindi pa nakita in the UAAP. Some of them are in the NCAA, some of them are in the provinces. It just shows that there are really, really lots of talent here in the Philippines."
Angels’ aim?
Shifting to the oncoming 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference, Almadro bared that Petro Gazz head coach Koji Tsuzurabara is still in the process of ranking draftees, as well as determining positions he deems to be team needs.
And for the Angels, the 10th, 20th, and any further successive picks will be their chances to secure players they’ll need, especially from a 47-strong field of rookie hopefuls.
“I guess we’re looking at who’s the best available players in every position. We will talk about it, what position will be fit for our team for the next few conferences, for the next years,” said Almadro.
Another good problem to have is how Tsuzurabara continues to gauge which players - if any - are still necessary to add to a Petro Gazz team that continues to perform at a high level.
“Wala pa siyang particular kasi happy pa nga siya sa performance ng mga players niya right now. Nakakadalawang conferences pa lang siya, so I guess nandun pa rin siya sa stage na hinahanap pa rin niya ‘yung strengths ng bawat players namin," added the Petro Gazz official, whose side bagged bronze in the recently-concluded All-Filipino Conference.
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