Ramil de Jesus. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Commitment and scheduling issues forced Ramil de Jesus to step down as head coach of the Philippine women’s national volleyball team, as per Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) vice president Peter Cayco.
Shaq delos Santos was tapped to replace De Jesus, who resigned just less than two months since assuming the post.
“Apparently, coach Ramil has his own reasons, one of them I think is his commitment, schedule because he is now coaching three teams,” said Cayco on Tuesday in Filipino.
“I respect his decision and we have to move on and I’m very thankful to Shaq at a short notice,” he added.
De Jesus is currently the coach of the La Salle Lady Spikers, a team he just steered to the UAAP title for the 11th time just last month, La Salle Baby Spikers, which is the school’s training pool, and the F2 Logistics in the Philippine Superliga.
Delos Santos now faces the tall order of assembling the best team and incorporating the right system with only two months left before the Asian Games, which is set on Aug. 18 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Delos Santos and members of his coaching staff Kungfu Reyes and Bryan Esquibel went to work right away as they held a tryout on Tuesday at Arellano University Gym in Legarda.
Cayco said he respects De Jesus’ decision and added the LVPI has to move forward with the national team pressed for time.
“Actually before they left for Hong Kong, I think two weeks ago, we met in a party hosted by FilOil for the La Salle team. I told him, ‘Coach usap tayo (Let’s talk),” then he smiled,’” said Cayco. “Then, Benson Bocboc (De Jesus’ assistant coach) was the one who informed us that they’re going to pass. I mean, I respect his decision. It’s hard if we’re going to force them.”
“They might not have time for the national team because of his schedule and in fairness to coach Ramil he informed us about his decision I think through Mr. (Popoy) Juico. To me personally, no but it was relayed to me,” he said. “We have to move on because we’re short of time so we met and we decided that it’s going to be coach Shaq so here we are now.”