KNOWN to be a man of few words, Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses knew just what to say and when to say it to make sure his squad won’t be deterred by the absence of its star trio.
Injuries and national team commitments led to the conference-long exclusions of Alyssa Valdez, Jema Galanza and Tots Carlos.
READ: Creamline claims record ninth PVL title after sweeping Akari
And despite being the PVL’s unrivaled winningest team with eight titles prior to their Reinforced Conference title romp, doubts were cast on how competitive Creamline will be in a stacked import-laden field.
‘Wag hanapin ang wala’
As the Cool Smashers dealt with life without their aces, newly-crowned PVL MVP Bernadeth Pons shared Meneses’ wake-up call of a question he asked to the team whenever things weren’t going their way.
And it was a call they heeded and eventually won them their ninth PVL crown.
“Ni-ready kami nila coach mentally. Sabi niya lang, ready kayo kung sino lang nandito. ‘Yun muna, ‘wag naming hahanapin kung sino wala,” Pons said, while describing how some their training sessions can get rough sometimes.
“May times nga na hindi maganda ‘yung nagiging training namin kaya sinabi ni coach, ‘sino pa bang hinihintay niyo?’ Isa rin ‘yun sa wake-up call na ‘oo nga no, kami na talaga ’to.’ Kami ‘yung nandito, so kailangan din namin talaga mag-extra work pa at magtrabaho para sa lahat.”
Early gamble pays off in a big way
Aside from dealing with a depleted line-up, Meneses also had to gamble on the league’s youngest foreign guest player in 23-year-old American spiker Erica Staunton, who had no overseas or pro volleyball experience to her name before joining the Cool Smashers.
With the way Staunton carried them on her young shoulders in the comeback win in the semifinals, and how she handled the pressure in the finals, it's safe to say that the gambit paid off.
"Si Erica talaga yung fit doon sa system namin na nakita namin sa maraming pinagpilian na imports at sobrang teachable si Erica. Number 1 kasi yung skills niya talaga, talagang bata pa pero talagang pinipilit niyang makuha yung system namin," Meneses shared.
"Number 2 yung sa training namin, talagang hindi siya umaayaw talaga kahit may masakit sa kanya, talagang nakikipag sabayan sya samin. So, I think mag-gogrow [siya] pagdating ng maraming laro."
Been there, done that
Six championships as head coach is no easy feat.
When asked on whether Meneses' sixth is the toughest one yet with a depleted roster, it wasn’t a matter of yes or no.
For him, it was all about accepting every set, every game, and every challenge as they come - regardless of who's available, and who's not.
And from there, results were bound to follow.
“‘Yung finals naman, laging challenge ‘yan eh kasi siyempre, ‘yung makakalaban mo talagang ibibigay din nila ‘yung one hundred percent nila. So every finals, challenge sa amin," Meneses said.
Pressure will always come when donning the pink and white, especially given the history of this franchise in the premier professionall volleyball tournament in the country.
For Meneses, the sooner his players accept this fact, the quicker they'd get to where they want to be.
And as they continued to stamp their class in the entire league by raising their ninth PVL title - there's no better indication that these players are more than up to the task of filling in for the absence of their MVP-Champion trio.
“Accept lang ng challenge tapos accept ng pressure, ‘yun lang naman lagi."
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