Angeli Tabaquero. Photo by Jilson Tiu/INQUIRER
A season that started on the wings of promise is slowly turning sour for Kia Forte.
But don’t tell that to the team’s coach or stars, who are far from disappointed with the string of setbacks that has hounded Kia’s initial splash in women’s volleyball.
“I can see the effort and determination of my players but we still lack cohesiveness and familiarity,” said coach Oliver Almadro. “If a team is solid, even on end games, they know what to do already. We barely had a month together so the players don’t really know the tendencies of their teammates yet.”
Sudden
Bang Pineda, the team’s reliable gunner, attests to the difficulty the team has had in jelling together.
“It was really a sudden decision to join the league and we only had three weeks of practice,” said Pineda in Filipino. “And we hardly get complete because we can’t synchronize our schedules and some players have different priorities to take care of.”
“We literally only are complete as a team during games and it’s hard to jell that way.”
Sheila Pineda. Photo by Jilson Tiu/INQUIRER
Greater drive
Also hurting Kia was the injury to captain and star player Angeli Tabaquero, whose absence early on really told on the team’s fortunes.
But the setbacks only makes Kia’s drive even greater.
“We are positive that soon, we will get our rhythm, that cohesiveness, and that drive as a team,” Almadro said. “I’m instilling in them the kind of passion and drive where you can say that this is my team and I’ll do whatever it takes for my team to be good. I always tell them to treat this team as their family, treat this team as your home.”
Almadro also revealed that he is patiently waiting for his trio of veterans to click and to get their groove back on a consistent basis.
“We really need to adjust and we really understand the struggles of coach Oliver because he really has done everything he can already,” Pineda said.
“I’ve always been positive and I’ll remain that way. I’ll play my best and go all-out every game,” she added.
Pineda, Alexa Micek and Tabaquero are the ones expected to shoulder Kia’s rise to respectability.
“We really hope that we can recover as a team and prove that we can go out and compete with strong teams like Army and PLDT,” Pineda said. “Never say die!” With reports from Mac Dionisio