ISHIE Lalongisip may very well be the PVL’s next big thing.
However, her meteoric rise in the pros, one that took flight as early as her rookie season, wasn’t handed on a silver platter, as she had to work her way to her current stature as one of the best - if not the best - rookie from the inaugural draft class.
READ: Cignal leans on Ishie Lalongisip's career game to stop ZUS Coffee
Cignal’s newest scoring weapon first played the sport in her home province of Batangas as a Grade 7 student where she’d compete in local and regional meets.
Lalongisip, 23, once thought volleyball was just a ‘high school thing’ without knowing that the game she and her mother used to play growing up had plenty of more doors towards a potential professional career.
Fast forward to today, volleyball has paved the way for her to be an emerging winner on the court and a breadwinner for her family off of it.
“Nag-start ako mag-volleyball nu’ng high school. Wala talaga akong idea na may mga professional (leagues) din pala ‘yung volleyball, na may UAAP, may mga national (tournaments),” Lalongisip shared with SPIN.ph.
“Through the years, naging source of living ko na rin ‘yung volleyball, so sabi ko sa sarili ko na, ‘Ah ok, ito pala ‘yung makaka-help sa akin para sa parents ko rin at makakapagpaaral, makakapagpatapos sa akin hanggang sa naging work ko na ‘yung volleyball.
“I know to myself na dito rin ako maggo-grow individually kasi ang dami ko ring napagdaanan dito. Tapos ‘yung karakter ko, nabi-build din ‘yung attitude ko, kaya I can say na para sa akin ‘yung volleyball.”
Ishie's wish comes true
From the streets of Batangas, it was now-Galeries Tower head coach Lerma Giron who found and brought Lalongisip to Manila where her UAAP journey began.
While she was able to spread her wings in her college career with Adamson, Lalongisip revealed how she almost had a different stomping ground elsewhere in Manila — one that led to a surprise tryout which nearly had her fail to make the cut as a Lady Falcon.
“Nu’ng una talaga, sa UE talaga ako kasi kasama ko nun si coach Lerma. Siya ‘yung nagdala sa akin dito sa Manila,” Lalongisip shared.
“Then suddenly, nag-regroup ‘yung Adamson, so kinuha ni coach Onyok Getigan, ‘yung assistant ngayon sa ZUS [Coffee], si coach Lerma. So kaming mga recruit niya from UE, dinala sa Adamson.
“Pagdating ko sa Adamson, need pala namin mag-tryout, so kinabahan si bakla kasi hindi pa pala sure ‘yung spot. Tapos nagtuloy-tuloy na, Adamson, (senior) high school, then to college.”
For the team that took a chance on her as its seventh pick in the inaugural PVL Draft last year, Lalongisip has nothing but gratitude.
After all, it's the HD Spikers who took a chance on a young Batangueña dreamer to make it big in the pros.
“Yes na yes, I feel super at home dito sa Cignal lalo na under the system ni coach Shaq [delos Santos]. Wala pa akong one year, pero nakikita ko na kung ano ‘yung strength and ‘yung kaya ko," she said.
Now, the rest of Lalongisip's promising career now lies in her very own red-hot hands.
As she put it, “For me naman, kailangan ko lang samahan at tiyaga, patience and perseverance every day sa training namin. Hindi ko alam na nagagawa ko na pala ‘yung mga hindi ko kayang gawin before.”
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