What we can learn from the volleyball stint at the Asian Games

What we can learn from the volleyball stint at the Asian Games

by rick olivares

The Philippine Women’s National Volleyball Team crashed out of medal contention following a three-set sweep by the top-ranked team in the world, China.

Before we look at the China game and our experience there, a look at the quarterfinals shows all the winners advancing to the semi-finals via three-set sweep.

China, Korea, Japan, and India came away winners against the Philippines, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong respectively. The first three are all in the top ten in the world while the latter is somewhere in the fifties. So there was the luck of the draw in play.

China is tall, highly-skilled, and smart. Watching them, we hardly saw spikes that sailed out of bounds. Their game intelligence is incredible. I was watching them make their reads and they are quick to spot gaps in the defense.

The scoring of the Philippines dipped with every set – from 15 to 9 and finally, 7.

Jaja Santiago gave China fits especially in the first set. When China learned to play her, the production dipped. In contrast, China was sending multiple Jaja Santiagos at us. As a result, I have to grudgingly admit that it was one incredible butt kicking.

Aside from the usual, work on the grassroots program (double time on it actually and teach the coaches as well), here in my opinion is what can we infer from these games.

We have skilled players, hopefully, we can find tall and skilled players.

Unfortunately, volleyball, on the international level, like basketball, is also about height. We need to develop highly-skilled and taller players in the grassroots level.

The international game is about quick kills and power volleyball

I’ve been watching international volleyball since the days of Karch Kiraly and the US men’s team dominance in the 1980s, the international game is quick and not about long rallies. The long rallies are fun to watch back home in the women’s game because the game is played at a slower speed and with less power, but not in the international arena.

I know we are shorter, but playing at a faster speed – since I don’t see us getting taller any time soon – could help. The operational word is “could” all right. Yes, I know that is also dependent upon reception, but even so.

We should really look at serving from a different perspective.

I remember sitting next to former Foton coach Fabio Menta and the Italian wondered why Filipinos serve only one way. The matches against China illustrate the need to serve in different ways. Even one player serves not only from one spot but from different spots and in a variety of ways. That is the first weapon, the serve. China made good use of it.

China places a premium on precision and quick thinking.

Sports is not only about skill, height, and coaching. It is also about the speed of thought. In sports, you have a split second to make a decision.

During the quarters match against China, I’d like to illustrate on one instance (out of many) where Liu Xiaotong noted that libero Denden Lazaro tried to cover one side from a crosscourt shot in Zone 5. However the spacing wasn’t too tight between Lazaro and a teammate. Liu hammered the ball in that space between. You could see her make that quick decision on the fly. And Liu along with her teammates did that with regularity and pin-point precision that you hardly saw them send a ball out of bounds.

Amazing.

And lastly, we need to expose our teams to stronger competition. This is obvious and everyone knows it. I wonder about our teams that go for training abroad. It is usually to prepare them for the domestic leagues.  The question is… are the learning applied not only by the local players, but also by the coaches? Really. Is it applied?

The systems are not only different, but also the cultures and structures so how does that experience stick other than in a Facebook or Instagram memory?

Nevertheless, we are proud of our women’s volleyball team no matter what the result. Our most profound thanks. We stuck to the tube watching and cheering.