Volleyball featuring only two players a side is a sure challenge to those who are used to playing indoor volleyball.
This explains the Lady Spikers’ performance last year; UAAP Season 74’s Women’s volleyball champion, the Lady Spikers, did not translate the team’s dominance in indoor volleyball to beach volleyball.
After hard-fought games, the Lady Spikers tandem of Michelle Gumabao and rookie Camille Cruz finished 4th, losing to eventual champions, the UST Tigresses.
Making the line-up
Unlike indoor volleyball where a player plays only one specific position, say a libero or setter, beach volleyball players play all the roles and positions.
Coach Ramil de Jesus describes a beach volleyball player as a “complete” player. It’s not just you know how to spike, you should also know how to serve, how to set and most importantly, you know how to dig and receive the ball, explained Coach Ramil in Filipino.
Among the Lady Spikers, Coach Ramil has picked six players to train for the upcoming UAAP beach volleyball competition.
The six players are Abi Maraño, Michelle Gumabao, Victonara Galang, Carol Cerveza, Wensh Tiu and Kim Fajardo. Season 74 beach volleyball rookie of the year Camille Cruz was not selected.
The Tiu-Fajardo tandem, which ranked second in the recent Nestea Beach Volleyball competition, will be back for UAAP Season 75 Beach Volleyball Tournament together with indoor volleyball Rookie of the Year Galang.
In men’s action, it will be Red Christensen, Kevin De La Vega and Brendon Santos to banner the Green Spikers’ bid to improve last year’s 5th finish.
Major adjustments
“Kung anong tinuro mo sa training, ‘yon na ‘yon. Sila na sa actual game. ‘Di naman kasi nakakasama yung coach sa bench (Whatever we teach in training is all there is. They handle the actual game as coaches are not allowed at the bench.),” Coach Ramil exclaims.
Coach Ramil pointed out that it is not advisable for indoor volleyball players to play beach volleyball, but due to the lack of players, DLSU has to pick from their indoor players.
Difficulty in adapting to the new playing environment is still a concern for the Lady Spikers. Coach Ramil explained that the girls need more endurance training to stand the heat of the sun. Furthermore, the Lady Spikers are still not used to the sand.
“Mahirap maglaro sa buhangin, lumulubog yung paa. Yung takeoff sa spiking iba…ang advisable sa beach volleyball one-step takeoff ka kaagad (It is hard to play on sand as your feet sink. Spiking takeoff is different; for beach volleyball, it is advisable o use a one-step takeoff.),” Coach Ramil shared.
Gearing up
The Taft-based squad has found difficulty in finding a venue for training. Last year, the team trained at La Salle – Greenhills (LSGH).
This year, the place is unavailable so the Lady Spikers have to travel all the way to De La Salle Health Sciences Institute in Dasmariñas, Cavite to train; thus, trainings are only done during weekends.
“Dahil sa kakulangan sa court, hindi kami nakakapagtraining ng husto unlike other schools [na may beach volleyball court], yung UP may beach volleyball court, yung UST din (Because of a lack of courts, we could not train as much s other schools; UP and UST have their own courts.),” Coach Ramil said.
Prediction
Reigning beach volleyball champions, UST Tigresses, is still a threat as the team finished 3rd at the Nestea Beach Volleyball national finals behind two Visayan teams. Ateneo and Adamson, which finished 2nd and 3rd respectively last UAAP season, are also strong opponents to consider.
Injury is, however, the biggest threat to the team’s top four bid. “Nakikita ko, ‘wag lang ma-injure, baka pumasok sila ng finals o top four (I can see that if the players do not get injured, they may have a chance in entering the finals or the top four.),” Coach Ramil envisions.
