PRIOR to a stellar Premier Volleyball League (PVL) debut, NXLED head mentor Taka Minowa had the chance to know his new players on both personal and professional levels.
One player, in particular, caught his attention for who he previously deemed to be "lazy and not being professional" before finally showing her competence and leadership in the Chameleons' first win over Gerflor.
READ: Chameleons score straight-sets win over Defenders in PVL opener
Shorty after the opening victory, Minowa bared her tough first impression on veteran ace spiker Jho Maraguinot.
"(Jho Maraguinot) is kind of makulit. I know how everyone says that she is a good player before. But for now, seeing her play for the first time, she’s kind of lazy and she’s not being professional," said Minowa.
"That’s why I told her: ‘You have a lot of career and experience but you have to show it too to your other teammates, so you need to talk more with the players and coaching staff. You need to share about your experience more,'" he added.
But after such a damning verdict, the Japanese tactician was quick to give Maraguinot her flowers for showing significant growth as one of NXLED's leaders.
"Now, she tried to talk to everyone, she tried to get the ball more. Before, she doesn’t try to get the ball (a lot). But in the past two weeks, she’s really getting better."
Maraguinot embraces 'great motivation' from Minowa'
The former Akari hitter took Minowa's comments to the chin, but subsequently shared how she takes his new mentor's remarks as "great motivation" moving forward.
"I think it’s a great motivation for me because he (Coach Taka) doesn’t know kung paano ako maglaro before, and I don’t think he’s the kind of coach na ibi-bring up kung ano ‘yung mali or like ‘yung past," Maraguinot said.
"Parang what he would do is he would always try to help me and everyone else na mag-improve, hindi lang para mag-fit sa system kundi para mag-improve ako as an athlete for the future," he added.
All's well that ends well, however, for the upbeat Chameleons as they look to score two wins out of two against F2 Logistics on Oct. 24 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
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