Players from Team Rebisco and Team Choco Mucho are eager to strut their stuff on the international stage for the first time in two years when they battle in the 2021 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship starting Friday in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
This would be the first foreign exposure for the Filipina spikers, who last saw action in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Team Choco Mucho coach Odjie Mamon is optimistic of his players despite training as a squad for only a month in a bubble-type setup in Batangas.
“All of my players are national players. We are stronger individually but as a team, we had less time to prepare,” said Mamon in an interview with the Asian Volleyball Confederation.
Team Choco Mucho raises the curtain when it clashes with hometown squad Nakhon Ratchasima QminC at 1:30 p.m., followed by Team Rebisco against Kazakhstan crew Altay at 7:30 p.m.
Choco Mucho, however, will play two women short from its original lineup after the coaching staff needed to improvise as four members of Team Rebisco had to complete additional requirements for local health protocols.
“The four players’ swab samples weren’t immediately cleared by local health authorities as the results were elevated to Bangkok where the main lab of Thai Dept of Disease Control is based,” Philippine National Volleyball Federation Inc. President Tats Suzara said in a statement.
The AVC approved of the players’ transfer.
“You cannot have only eight players on a team which is bound to play so many matches,” Suzara said.
“It’s a sound decision to balance the team – besides, all of the athletes in Thailand are members of the national team.”
Team Rebisco’s Brazilian coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito is also confident of his squad despite the circumstances.
“I like this balance in my team,” Souza de Brito said in an interview with the AVC.
“The experienced ones are like mentors to my younger players.”
After Nakhon Ratchasima QminC, Choco Mucho will face Kazakhstan’s Zhetysu on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Pool A.
Team Rebisco, meanwhile, will have Thailand’s Supreme Chonburi on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., followed by Iran’s Saipa Tehran on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
The tournament offers one berth in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club Championship in Ankara, Turkey in December.