SEA Games volley team ‘not yet ripe’ to shine

A women’s volleyball team could be formed for the coming Southeast Asian Games but it would take years for the squad to effectively fuse together, according to former national player Len Escollante.

“It’s a team sport and you need chemistry,” said Escollante, named best center spiker when the Philippines won its last SEA Games gold medal in 1993 in Singapore. “But chemistry can’t be built easily. It takes at least two years to make the team really competitive.”

Singapore will again play host to the 11-nation Games on June 5 to 16 and Escollante would love to see the women’s volleyball team pick up where her 1993 team left off.

“They’ll be playing in the same country where we had our last gold medal—that achievement has never been repeated,’’ said Escollante, who has since shifted to water sports as head coach of the canoe-kayak and dragon boat national teams.

But whether the women’s volleyball squad could vie in the Games remains uncertain.

Two factions are fighting over the leadership of the Philippine Volleyball Federation, putting the formation of the team bound for the SEA Games in shambles.

“Even if we could form a team at once, it will be difficult to win a medal,’’ said Escollante.

Waxing sentimental, Escollante recalled that her team’s buildup began in the early 1990s when they copped a bronze in the 1991 Manila Games. It reached its peak performance two years later when it beat powerhouses Indonesia and Thailand.

The Philippine Olympic Committee has already stepped into the sport’s leadership crisis and created a five-man committee tasked with uniting all the stakeholders and come up with a new federation acceptable to all parties.