Building confidence
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine men’s volleyball team went into the Alas Invitationals using one guiding principle – gain progress, not perfection.
“We’re so proud of what we’ve done,” said Alas star Marck Espejo, who powered the Filipinos to an Independence Day 21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12 win over the Thai national team for a sweep of the three-day meet at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Thursday.
“But while this will not necessarily mean we’ll be playing like this in our next games, what’s important is the progress,” he added.
Truly, the Nationals have shown significant stride after posting incredibly impressive triumphs over Jakarta Bhayangkara and the Hyundai Capital Skywalkers from South Korea.
And all of this is painting a potentially bright future for the Angiolino Frigoni team preparing for tougher international events ahead, including the FIVB World Championship the country is hosting this September as well as the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand late this year.
“Beating Thailand boosted our confidence,” said Espejo.
The win over the Thais stirred glorious memories of the Filipinos’ historic semifinal victory over the former in 2019 SEA Games at the PhilSports Arena that helped secure the country the silver medal.
Frigoni, however, was quick to temper expectations for the team and stressed it’s still a long way to go.
“I don’t know if we have enough time,” the 71-year-old coach said when asked about the Philippine team’s preparations for the worlds set Sept. 12 to 28 at the Big Dome and MOA Arena. “We will do our best to be good there.”
Alas is now hoping to ride on this newfound momentum as it flies to Manama, Bahrain for the AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup.
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