National team skipper Mika Reyes. Photo by Bong Lozada/iNQUIRER
The biggest challenge for national team skipper Mika Reyes is not managing egos. Instead, it’s bringing together a group of players who came from different teams gathered for one common goal.
“Actually, I think my work as a captain isn’t that hard because we’re not kids anymore,” said Reyes in Filipino during the team’s media day Friday at Arellano School of Law. “You won’t have to always tell them what to do.”
“The challenge here is how we’ll bond together as one group, skills-wise, attitude-wise, and character-wise because we didn’t come from one team, we were selected from different teams and this was the only time we were together.”
The national squad is composed of players selected from several teams in the Philippine Super Liga with Alyssa Valdez the only one coming from the Premier Volleyball League.
Reyes added their upcoming training camp in Japan is the prime opportunity for them to bond further as a team following episodes where they had to cancel practices due to absent players.
The team is set to leave for Japan late July to prepare for the upcoming 19th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship and the 2017 Southeast Asian Games.
“This will be a new opportunity for us, yes everyone is good individually, but the challenge is how we’ll jell as one team because it’s not just one or two players who plays in a team,” said Reyes.