GROWING up prominently tall and lean, National University's Alyssa Solomon was already a magnet for attention when she was a kid.
In class pictures, she stood alongside a row of her male classmates.
Back in her elementary days, she often heard people encouraging her to play sports or try out for her school's varsity teams, and she would usually ignore them as she was not a fan of sweating nor getting tired.
'Napapagod ako eh'
"Volleyball ang first sport ko, nag-start lang ako late na, Grade 6 na," she shared with SPIN.ph. "Nung una kasi, Grade 4 yata, tinry ko lang, aba, hindi ko nagustuhan kasi napapagod ako! Eh nung bata ako, ayokong napapagod at hinihingal."
Due to pressure from her peers, she tried again - even if she didn't want to, and this time, she found it more manageable.
"'Yung tita ko nag-push talaga sa akin, kasi nga sila naman nakakita ng potential, tapos ako nung time na 'yun, ayoko talaga," she said. "Tapos yun nga after two years, tinry ko ulit, nagustuhan ko na, maghabol-habol ng bola.
"Nae-enjoy ko lang na pag nahahabol ko, umaangat."
The 6-foot-1 standout shared that she went through several positions before finding his place. Her first position was middle blocker, then she was converted into an open spiker before she finally felt at home in an opposite hitter role.
Now a win away from a UAAP women's volleyball championship, Solomon bared that she's glad to have made the right decision pursuing the right sport for her - and choosing the right schoo to play forl.
When she was in high school at the University of Perpetual Help-Binan, a few other UAAP schools also tried recruiting her. Nut NU stood out in her mind for this one single reason:
'NU the right school for me'
"Hinintay kasi ako ng NU, sila ang naging most patient sa akin," she said. "And nakita ko din sa kanila, 'yung kung paano mag-alaga ng players, and yung support ng management."
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