BROOKE Van Sickle has began the tedious process of making the switch from representing the United States to joining the Philippines as a future national team member.
The Fil-American ace spiker confirmed her plans to SPIN.ph on Thursday evening, shortly after her career-best 36-point performance led Petro Gazz to a series-opening win in the battle for third versus Chery Tiggo.
READ: Brooke Van Sickle's 36 points lead Petro Gazz past Chery Tiggo in Game One
"That’s the plan. I had to fill up a bunch of paperwork coming up, so that I’m doing very shortly. So yeah, I’m switching federations," said Van Sickle.
Tracing her roots to San Emilio, Ilocos Sur, Van Sickle shared how it's always been a dream to represent her mother Lisa's homeland in any capacity - one she's already began through her first-ever pro league stint in the ongoing 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference.
"It would be cool to be able to play for the Philippines, for sure. That’s definitely my goal to be able to represent the Philippines. I know that might be controversial but I just want to do my best for this country and just play volleyball and know all the girls and everything," Van Sickle said.
"I’m happy and grateful to have that opportunity (to play for the Philippines) if that does come, for sure. We’ll see and whoever who’s on the team, they’re going to do great. There’s great players here (so I'm) not worried," she added.
Multiple international stints are coming up for the Philippine women's national team starting with the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women later this month and the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup, a qualifying tournament for next year's 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League (VNL).
With such foreign tournaments on the way, however, Van Sickle has yet to find out how long the process of switching federations will take. But she is ready for a Philippine call-up when the time for her to don the country's colors finally comes.
"I don’t know. I have no idea how any of this works. I just do what I’m told. Yeah, it is what is. We’ll see," Van Sickle said.
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