Maraño, De Guzman named national team skippers

Aby Maraño and John Vic de Guzman have been named captains of the national volleyball teams that will compete in front of home fans in the Southeast Asian Games this year.

“This is very exciting. I personally feel no pressure. I take this as a challenge,” said the 26-year-old Maraño during the unveiling of national squads by the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI) and main sponsor Rebisco on Friday. “The only thing is that we have to sustain this all the way to the SEA Games.”

Volleyball star Alyssa Valdez, also named to the national pool, praised officials for including youngsters like University of Santo Tomas’ rookie Eya Laure and foreign-born Filipinos like Kalei Mau and Alohi Robins-Handy.

“We can learn from them and they from us,” Valdez said. “This is also good because we have so many young players so we can already see the future of Philippine volleyball.

The pool will undergo training camps in Japan, China and Korea where the club will go up against multiple club and collegiate teams.

“We think this is a lot better than playing in the Asian Women’s and Asian Cup,” said LVPI president Peter Cayco. “And maybe we will have pocket tournaments in the country like the SEA Grand Prix.”

The LVPI decided to forgo the major Asian tournaments to keep the team’s confidence intact.

“We don’t want to be playing in the SEA Games coming from bad beatings from these countries,” said Cayco.

De Guzman will captain a men’s team that includes former Ateneo star Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas, spearhead of reigning UAAP men’s champion National Univerity.

The LVPI had earlier predicted its teams would finish on the podium, but refused to forecast the medal. The Philippines last won a gold in the 1993 SEA Games in Singapore.