Cignal HD Spikers coach Shaq Delos Santos huddles his team during a timeout within the PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals against the Choco Mucho Flying Titans on December 9, 2023.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — With Japanese coaches bolstering this system of other skilled Philippine clubs, Cignal coach Shaq Delos Santos and his fellow local coaches got a chance to learn recent things in Japan with Kurashiki Ablaze coach Hideo Suzuki ahead of the 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season.
Nxled began the trend when it tapped Japanese coach Taka Minowa for its PVL debut within the second All-Filipino Conference, where it won 4 games. Minowa has been also overseeing the training of Akari as this system director of each teams.
Farm Fresh followed suit, hiring Invitational Conference champion coach Suzuki as team consultant and Master Shimizu, the Japanese trainer of the Foxies, while Petro Gazz signed Koji Tsuzurabara as its recent head coach.
Delos Santos is embracing the challenge as he and his assistant coach Rico De Guzman together with Chery Tiggo coach KungFu Reyes and Lerma Giron of Galeries Tower studied the tactics and discipline of Japanese volleyball from coach Suzuki and the Kurashiki Ablaze throughout the University of Santo Tomas’ training camp within the country.
“Meron kaming mga nakita na pwede nating mai-apply or maa-apply namin sa team namin. I’m sure mas magiging plus para sa amin yun but we all know naman na yung ibang teams merong Japanese coach talaga pero ang magiging challenge sa amin dito kung papaano namin i-maximize talaga yung team,” Delos Santos told reporters during their practice on Monday at Gameville in Mandaluyong City.
(We saw some things that we will apply to our team. I’m sure that’s going to be a plus for us but we all know other teams have Japanese coaches and the challenge for us here is tips on how to maximize the team’s potential.)
“Sobrang okay yung technique and tactics nila, hindi lang basta nagdi-drills lang sila. Talagang dapat may knowledge ka rin talaga bago mo gawin kasi si coach Suzuki rin naman yung pinuntahan namin, yung sa Kurashiki. I’m sure hindi naman siya ganun kadaling gawin pero diskarte na namin bilang coach kung paano namin siya tatrabahuhin at pagagandahin or i-apply sa team namin,” he added.
(Their technique and tactics are really good. They’re not only doing drills. You furthermore may need to obtain knowledge on tips on how to do this stuff and it’s as much as us coaches on how we will work on it and elevate it once we apply it to our teams.)
Cignal HD Spikers.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Delos Santos, a former Philippine women’s volleyball team coach, said the arrival of Japanese coaches within the PVL is sweet for the league as it could possibly bring out the perfect in Filipino tacticians.
“Mas macha-challenge kami as local coach na meron na dumadating na foreign coaches. Syempre para sa amin, ang laking opportunity rin ‘to na ito yung kalaban namin na coach so kailangan ma-prove din namin sa sarili namin na meron kaming kayang gawin na pwedeng manalo or pwedeng mas maging okay. Kung makaka-experience kami ng ‘di maganda, siguro absorb lang tapos laban lang nang laban at aral nang aral,” said the third-year Cignal coach. “Alam kasi natin kung ano yung kaya nilang gawin however it doesn’t mean na magpapabaya kami. Ako mas sisipagan ko, mas tatrabahuhin ko talaga na mapaganda yung takbo ng team namin.”
(The arrival of foreign coaches makes it tougher for us local coaches. For us, it’s also an enormous opportunity to prove ourselves against them and show that we will win. If the experience isn’t good that just means we want to fight more and continue learning. We all know what they’re able to and we will’t just stay comfortable at what we do. Personally, it makes me need to double the hassle for me to find a way to further improve our team.)
Delos Santos is pleased to maintain his core after Invitationals MVP Ces Molina, Ria Meneses, and three-time Best Setter Gel Cayuna renewed their contracts to stick with mainstays Vanie Gandler and Rose Doria and landed decorated libero Dawn Macandili-Catindig and young opposite spiker Jovelyn Fernandez.
“Ang isang essential advantage namin is yung core nandiyan pa rin plus meron kaming Dawn Macandili na libero and Jovelyn Fernandez na bata pero alam namin na yung quality ng ilalaro niya magiging maganda within the near future. Excited din ako para i-ready yung team kasi syempre meron kaming additional knowledge na pwedeng i-share sa team and hopefully, ma-maximize natin,” he said.
(One advantage we’ve is our core remained intact plus we added Dawn Macandili as our libero and a young yet quality player in Jovelyn Fernandez who will only get well. I’m excited to share the extra knowledge I learned to the team and hopefully, we’re in a position to maximize all of the learnings.)
After earning two bronze medals within the 2023 season, the HD Spikers hope to go all of the solution to the highest this 12 months.
