Alas Pilipinas coach Jorge Souza de Brito talks to his coaching staff during a game in the AVC Challenge Cup. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIREr.net
MANILA, Philippines — Earning a breakthrough bronze medal finish in front of the home crowd last year raised the expectations for Alas Pilipinas in the upcoming Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup starting on Saturday in Hanoi, Vietnam.
But for coach Jorge Souza De Brito, pressure is a privilege as he and the Filipino Spikers are out to bank on their historic experience of winning the country’s first AVC medal in 63 years to play even better in this year’s edition.
READ: SCHEDULE: Alas Pilipinas women at AVC Nations Cup in Vietnam
“In my opinion, it’s a privilege to be under pressure. It means that you’ve been performing good. But again, nobody wants to be on second place or third place, or fourth place. So when the guys joined the competition, they have their own goals and targets,” said De Brito in an interview with official broadcaster One Sports.
With higher expectations, the Brazilian coach continues to instill the same mindset he set for his players last year.
“The pressure that you have right now is good for us. But again, I’m just asking every single day if they can try to do the best, try to do what we’ve been training during this [past] months. My expectation of them is [they] can perform, you need to perform first,” he said.
De Brito will bank on the same Alas core last year, led by the tournament’s Best Setter and team captain Jia De Guzman and Best Opposite Spiker Angel Canino.
The Brazilian tactician, who has been handling the women’s national team since 2021, is also pinning his hopes on mainstays Bella Belen, a three-time UAAP MVP, Alyssa Solomon, Eya Laure, Vanie Gandler, Thea Gagate, Fifi Sharma, Dell Palomata, and Julia Coronel as well as liberos Dawn Macandili-Catindig and Jen Nierva.
READ: Alas Pilipinas eyes strong AVC Nations Cup run in Vietnam
Making their debut are Adamson’s Rookie of the Year Shaina Nitura and Far Eastern University’s Cla Loresco.
“Some of them are on their way to be pros, but they are already training as a pro. The focus, that’s something that they never lose. They start on this and this is the difference between some players who are in the national team and others,” De Brito said.
“They’ve shown that they can keep their focus all the time. They have own goals in life and as a team, we keep on asking them to work as a team. Team building is always good. It’s quite easy to keep them focused for this competition.”
The Philippines, No. 52 in the world, opens its group B campaign against unranked Mongolia, which didn’t participate last year, on Saturday at 4 p.m. But De Brito warns his wards not to let their guards down.
“Even if they didn’t join [last year] they are practicing, they are performing in a good way, so right now it’s a surprise for us but also they got notice about our team so it’s gonna be hard. Also it’s the first match, it’s always hard. The first match is always different for each one, even for them and for us,” he said.