The Philippine National Volleyball Federation wants a changing of the guards as it plans to invest on young bloods and tap Filipino-foreign players for the women’s national team.
PNVF is looking to put up a national pool composed mostly of college players while scouting Filipina volleyball talents based abroad veering away from recruiting from the professional ranks.
The federation pointed out that the availability and commitment of players, especially those from pro clubs, have been its perennial problem as it is forced to field hastily-formed and inadequately prepared squad in international tournaments.
In fact, PNVF recently sent an all-collegiate squad to three international tournaments.
Composed of the core of National University led by last year’s University Athletic Association Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Bella Belen and other handpicked players from Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines, the national team competed in two legs of the Southeast Asia V-League and the Asian Women’s Senior Championship.
The Filipinas, however, will miss seeing action in the 19th Asian Games that will formally kick off on Saturday in Hangzhou, China.
The Philippines has entries in women’s and men’s beach volleyball in the Asiad for the first time since 2006 and a men’s indoor team after a 49-year absence.
The PNVF did not send a women’s squad after making its return to the continental sports meet in 2018 in Indonesia.
The PNVF leadership said it had no choice but to skip the Asian Games because of availability issues of players, mostly veterans from the Premier Volleyball League.
PNVF said it could not get the commitment of PVL players as preparation for the national team overlaps with the current season of the league.
Last June, the federation denied the PVL from acquiring international transfer certificates for foreign players for its Reinforced Conference as a sanction for staging a tournament inside the national team window that runs from May to October.
The PNVF wants to start building a team early as the country takes a crack at bidding for the 2025 Women’s World Championship hosting where a slot is reserved for the host nation.
