IT will take more than just an intact player core for Alas Pilipinas to tread a path of growth and success in years and tournaments to come.
And head coach Jorge Souza de Brito knows that for a fact.
As Alas received a straight-sets beating in the 2024 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup quarterfinals at the hands of Vietnam, the second-highest ranked team in Southeast Asia (SEA), de Brito acknowledged there’s still a long way to go to cut the gap with the Asian greats even if the Philippines is already third in the SEA region.
“Vietnam is No. 2, Indonesia is No. 4 and Thailand, of course, No. 1. It's always a challenge for us, but they’re trying to improve also. They have new players,” he said.
“What we have to do is play hard and minimize the distance between the No. 3 to No. 2 and then be able to move past them and beat them. It's not a long way, but it's hard. Every step is really hard.”
As Alas was able to level at 12-all in Set 2 - and prompted Vietnam to field in its multi-awarded spiker and skipper 'T4' Tranh Thi Tanh Thuy who was fresh from a knee injury - de Brito emphasized how the squad is beginning to get the respect of their stronger opponents.
“When you see your opponent putting their best player to play, it means that you’re going up. That’s what I told my players inside. We did a good job that they have to put their first six to play against us."
“But every game is a different story. Twelve days of training, but only complete since yesterday is not enough, you know that.”
Long-term Alas team a must
Just like what team captain Jia de Guzman pleaded for shortly after the quarterfinals loss, continuity is imperative for long-term success with any national team.
READ: Kapitana Jia pleads for long-term, big picture thinking for Alas
Doubling down on her message, de Brito underscored the need to keep their player core intact in light of last-minute exits prior to the Challenger Cup and ahead of their training camp in Japan from July 14 to 25.
“What we really have to do is we need to have our players spend more time together to work, so we can add something in the system that would be applicable. It’s step-by-step," he said.
“Hopefully, we can keep these players. since we have (roughly) 14 days in Japan to practice. Hopefully we’ll be better, chemistry will be better because every single day training together two times a day. It’s good, much better.”
De Brito calls for support on all fronts
Moreover, the Alas shot-caller called on both UAAP and Premier Volleyball League (PVL) to continue extending their support to Alas the rest of the way — more so in the buildup to next year’s SEA Games in Thailand.
“We need the support from the fans, clubs, companies, UAAP board, PVL board, and team owners. All of us are part of the Philippine volleyball environment so we really, really need to work together," he said.
“We're not gonna win, we're not get better without these support.”
Driven by the quest of ending a two-decade SEA Games medal drought, de Brito isn’t looking too far ahead, but remains optimistic it’ll be a dream come true - but only with the continued support of the national team’s stakeholders.
“There's still time to work. We have one and a half year to do that. Enough time, if we're supported by the clubs and the schools, then we can do it,” he said.
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