The Philippine National Volleyball Federation Inc. (PNVF) kicks off its 31st Southeast Asian Games preparations by holding tryouts for indoor and beach volleyball teams starting Wednesday, April 28, at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The tryouts will be held for one day for each team, with the women’s indoor going in first on Wednesday, followed by the men’s indoor on Thursday. Men’s and women’s beach volleyball players will try out on Friday.
Strict health protocols will be administered during the proceedings that include RT-PCR tests for participants and staff at the swab center at the Mall of Asia Arena last Monday and Tuesday.
Among those who had gotten their swab tests were Aby Maraño and Majoy Baron.
Forty male and 40 female indoor volleyball players, and 20 each for men’s and women’s beach volleyball were invited to participate that include Alyssa Valdez, Jaja Santiago, Jia Morado, Dawn Macandili, Bea De Leon, to name a few.
Also invited are members of the men’s volleyball team that won the historic silver medal at the 2019 SEAG that include skipper John Vic De Guzman, Joshua Retamar, Jessie Lopez, Ish Polvorosa, Jack Kalingking, and Mark Alfafara, to name a few.
Fil-American Kalei Mau, who is in the United States, begged off due to travel restrictions, while former national team captain Jovelyn Gonzaga will try out for the beach volleyball team instead of the indoor squad.
PNVF President Tats Suzara said they are prioritizing its elite or high-performance initiatives through the association’s National Team Commission for the country’s SEAG campaign in Vietnam late this year.
Volleyball coaches Odjie Mamon (women) and Dante Alinsunurin (men) set specific policies, guidelines and parameters when they pick from the 40 women and men aspirants who arrived in Subic on board quarantined buses and vans on Wednesday morning.
“We are looking at specific qualities for specific positions, and not the individual, but the aspirant’s qualities himself or herself,” Mamon said.
“We will be focusing on basic skills on offense and defense, as well as height, tactics or strategy, attitude, leadership and championship experience," Alinsunurin said.
Beach volleyball coaches Paul Jan Doloiras (women) and Rhovyl Verayo (men) set the same policies and parameters in the selection of national athletes who will be focusing on the Hanoi 31st Southeast Asian Games in November.