HALF of the participating club teams will be mentored by foreign coaches that add more challenge in the Premier Volleyball League Season 3 Reinforced Conference, which fires off on Sunday at the Arena in San Juan City.
Three teams will boast three foreign coaches with Creamline parading Chinese coach Huanning Li to replace ex-Thai mentor Tai Bundit, BanKo will lean on Thailand women’s national team coaching staff, Apichat Kongsawat as their head coach this season.
Expansion team Motolite will be coached by ex-Adamson American coach Air Padda together with her Assistant Kenyan coach Godfrey Okumu of University of the Philippines.
The three other teams will pin their hopes on local coaches like UST coach Kungfu Reyes calling the shots for the returning Pacific Town-Army. College of Saint Benilde and La Salle men’s volleyball mentor Arnold Laniog will be m
PVL tournament director Tony Boy Liao belives that these foreign coaches will challenge our homegrown mentors to improve their styles again like Bundit did in UAAP from 2013 to 2018.
“Sa tingin ko nakakatulong, hindi ko naman sinasabing mas magagaling sila sa Filipino, pero siguro yung experience nila,” said Liao in the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum lasy Tuesday at the Amelie Hotel.
“They’ve been coaching outside not like yung mga coaches nating mga Filipino dito lang so hindi sila nakakakuha ng experience outside.”
Liao was reminiscent when he bought Bundit to Ateneo six years ago and eventually won back-to-back UAAP championships in 2014 and 2015 before settling for silver in 2016 to 2017 at the hands of rival De La salle only to miss the Final Four in 2018 losing to Far Eastern University.
“Malaking tulong especially when we started kay coach Tai. Pumasok si coach tai sa pilipinas at sa Ateneo talagang napaganda yung coaching styles ng mga Filipino,” Liao said. “Mostly ginaya yung kanyang regimen na training twice a day, out of the country training.”
That’s why Sports Vision, which organizes the PVL, is looking forward for the development that these foreign coaches could share in Philippine volleyball.