OVER the last year, Alas Pilipinas Women was able to send strong teams to international competitions, but never really the best from its talent-laden pool.
Recent Alas teams featured college standouts like Bella Belen, Angel Canino and Alyssa Solomon but didn’t feature Fil-foreign stars like Brooke Van Sickle, MJ Phillips or Tia Andaya and vice versa.
At times, either the college core or pro league core would have a few missing pieces over the last few competitions.
But will the 2029 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship finally be the time for this Philippine team to put together its best team ever?
Alas Women captain Jia de Guzman sure hopes so, as she extends an open invite of sorts to up-and-coming young talent to step up to the plate.
“This is the kind of program we've been waiting for years. It's inspiring also for the next generation to come in. Right now is a really good time to come into Alas and show the world what we've got,” de Guzman said.
READ Jia hopes PH won't waste four-year lead time for 2029 FIVB Worlds
“We need the best of the best talaga, not just the best of the rest. We need people who want to work for the country, who want to learn from us also, ‘yung team, training with the best talents from high school, from college.
“Ang laking bagay sa amin to invite everyone na sumali sa ganitong klaseng programa ngayon.”
She also made a plea to all of the sport’s local stakeholders, from schools to club teams, to lend their helping hands in the four-year buildup to the 2029 FIVB Worlds.
“Hopefully all of the teams, all of the clubs, all of the universities can support us behind this because the world is already seeing how good the Philippines is,” de Guzman said.
“We have so much potential talaga. We want to show up, we want to compete and I think we can only do this now that we're given the time to prepare.”
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