Acaylar gets help from Korean coaches in honing PH men’s volleyball team

PH men’s volleyball team. Photo by Bong Lozada

National team head coach Sammy Acaylar has been impressed with the development of the men’s volleyball team and they’ve also received some much-needed help from the Korean coaches they’ve played against.

“My players can see their flaws, and they know how to improve themselves,” said Acaylar. “And the Korean coaches have also helped us because they teach us how to be better.”

The men’s national volleyball team is in Suwon City, Korea for its training camp in preparation for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games and Acaylar used the time in the East Asian country to subject his team to rigorous exercises to get ready for the regional games.

The Filipinos had its best tune-up game when it exchanged blows against the Korean Under-19 team for five sets, 24-26, 25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 15-11, in a losing effort.

“I’m happy that we are able to identify and address our weakness in service reception, blocking, and floor coverage,” said Acaylar, who was also the head coach of the 1991 bronze medalists in the SEA Games, in Filipino.

Acaylar said he’s impressed with the maturity his players have shown in tune-up games despite grueling conditioning exercises in the morning.

“The important thing here is that every time we play in tune-up games, my players continue to improve. Our team is improving,” said Acaylar. “I can see that even though they just came off conditioning training in the morning, they will work and push themselves to improve.”