Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Marck Espejo compiled a resume worthy of envy when he was playing in the UAAP men’s volleyball tournament, and after five years with Ateneo he is ready to take his talents to the “Land of the Rising Sun.”
The five-time UAAP MVP signed a one-year contract with Japanese club team Oita Miyoshi Aeisse Adler in the V.League, Japan’s top-tier volleyball association.
“One of the highest goals an athlete here in the Philippines is to play abroad,” said Espejo in Filipino at Buffalo Wild Wings in Conrad Manila. “I feel really happy right now and of course I have the jitters.”
Espejo was the anchor of Ateneo’s championship-winning run in the UAAP that produced three titles in five years and thus cementing the Blue Eagles as a premier power in the collegiate circuit.
Apart from his five MVPs, Espejo was also a Rookie of the Year, a four-time Best Attacker, a two-time Best Server, and a two-time Best Scorer for the Blue Eagles.
Espejo said he first got acquainted with the White Eagles when University of the Philippines head coach Godfrey Okumu, who once worked with Oita Miyoshi, recommended him to the Japanese club.
The White Eagles then took Espejo on a tour of the club’s home in Oita prefecture that also included glimpse of the Japanese culture that he is soon set to partake in his professional career.
Espejo, who will return to the Philippines for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, admitted that what he did in the Philippines is not enough for him to make an impact in Japan and that he need to work doubly hard if he plans to establish himself in the V.League.
“I will work harder because the level of play here in the Philippines and in Japan is vastly different,” said Espejo. “Japan is on another level than the Philippines and I know what I did here is not enough.”