TO set things straight, Savi Davison is just as Filipino as your kapitbahay.
And through her PVL journey — now with a championship to her name — she has only grown deeper into that identity.
Volleyball in the Philippines gave her more than just a platform to play the sport she has always loved. It became the missing piece that completed her sense of self.
Casually and with confidence, the Filipino-Canadian shared with SPIN.ph:
“Sa bahay, my lola would speak Tagalog. I would always understand, but I only learned to speak it when I moved here. Dapat when I have to converse, muscle memory. But it was never new to me. It was just a process that was never complete until I came here.”
That process began around in 2023 when she joined PLDT. Since then, she has embraced more and more of what it means to be Filipino.
Now 26, Davison revealed that she didn’t just pick up every day Tagalog, but also learned the language of the court — volleyball terms that proved crucial in the High Speed Hitters' recent title run, helping her connect more seamlessly with her teammates.
“With coach [Rald Ricafort], I speak volleyball Tagalog too. Terms like dikit, salo, bawi. It adds spice, I’m spicy,” she said with a laugh.
She added: “It’s not hard for my teammates to communicate with me.”
Gets ka ni Savi
And that connection extends beyond the sidelines. Davison has found herself more in tune with the crowd, even with fans who don’t know she understands them.
“Maraming tao would say, ‘Uy, import, import!’ Not a lot of people know that I can speak Tagalog or naiintindihan ko, so for me to prove myself, it feels like I’m really part of this… Ok lang kahit broken Tagalog lang,” she said.
READ: Davison may press pause on PVL career because of this. Find out what
Career paths other than volleyball may still be in the back of her mind, but for now, Davison is right where she wants to be — with PLDT, chasing another title, as the High-Speed Hitters figure in a second straight finals.
No promises, just presence.
As she put it, “Right now, my heart is here, my priority is with them.”
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