TAKA Minowa has barely had time to put his imprint on Alas Pilipinas Women, but the early returns are already difficult to ignore.
Just 15 days after first convening under their new Japanese coach, Alas Women had already broken through for the Philippines’ first-ever silver medal in the SEA V.Cup, ending a seven-year, 11-leg wait for a runner-up finish.
READ: Alas claims historic SEA V.Cup silver in payback win vs Indonesia
For Minowa, though, Sunday’s 25-13, 23-25, 25-19, 33-31 victory over Indonesia was less a culmination but a glimpse of what this new program could become.
“We just started training 15 days ago and then came to Vietnam and Thailand. For sure, we are just starting the program, and they have a lot of opportunities and a lot of space to improve for this team,” Minowa said.
That is what made the silver particularly encouraging.
Minowa was appointed just over a month ago, then had to quickly prepare a new-look Alas Women side for the SEA V.Cup, with little time to establish his system, build chemistry and develop the habits he wanted from his players.
But the results came sooner than expected.
After finishing fourth in Leg 1, Alas Women returned in Leg 2 and put themselves in position to make history. They beat Vietnam for the first time in seven years, then took down Indonesia in a tense silver-medal showdown, refusing to leave their fate to chance.
“We were just saying that there was nothing to expect because this is the first time we are going to be in the silver-medal match. I just told everybody to focus on ourselves, not on the opponent's side, because what we can control is only our side, and then they did it,” he said.
Indonesia made them work for it, particularly in the fourth set, when Alas Women had to fight through eight deadlocks and seven Indonesian set points before finally escaping, 33-31, to clinch silver outright.
For a program that’s not even a full month into its training cycle, it was a significant first step, but Minowa knows the standard will rise sharply from here.
The Asian Games in September becoming the primary target. Waiting in the group stage are continental powers China and Kazakhstan, offering the Philippines an immediate measure of just how far this new program can go.
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