National team coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito set to lead Akari in the PVL. -PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines —On the heels of National University’s women’s national volleyball team ouster, head coach Jorge Souza de Brito insisted his team could’ve used those matches in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference before heading to the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup.
“These players are good. But the kind of attitude that you have at this time is not so good. This is not so good. It’s bad for us,” De Brito said in an interview with ONE PH’s the Big Story on Wednesday.
“Minimum 12 good matches in high level, that should be really good. And now we’ll have to discuss because we have to start from zero.”
The Brazilian coach echoed the Philippine National Volleyball Federation’s claims that NU management, specifically team manager Engineer Bing See Diet, got in the way of their last-minute participation in the PVL as a replacement for Japan’s Kobe Shinwa, which begged off days before its arrival in the country due to COVID-19.
“They really want to play for the country but the management of NU, specifically talking about Engr. Bing, said something different about his concerns. We always consider what he did, and what he says, but in this case, the decision has to be made by the coaches,” he said.
“You have to understand that when you go inside the national team, you have to go by the rules of the national team and the coaches. In this case, it’s under my recommendation to do for the best result.”
Diet said he was concerned about the injuries that the Lady Bulldogs could sustain playing in the PVL semifinals and joining the tournament was not also part of their initial program.
COACH’S DECISION
De Brito remained defiant stressing that the young national team needed more games since they only had one tune-up against China.
“It would have been really good for us. It’s a chance for us. Who’s the guy who can decide if it’s good for the national team if not the coach? I would like to really understand what their rationale was. I can discuss this with my coaches but not with someone who is not in charge of this,” he said.
“When the guys said to me that they don’t want to play. How can you handle this situation? They want to play in the AVC but not the matches for preparation. This is different.”
After NU decided not to accept PVL’s invitation, the PNVF released the 12 NU players–Bella Belen, Jennifer Nierva, Ivy Lacsina, Alyssa Solomon, Lams Lamina, Cess Robles, Sheena Toring, Kamille Cal, Shaira Jardio, Evangeline Alinsug, Nicole Mata, and Joyme Cagande including coach Karl Dimaculangan.
The best local team from the PVL Invitational will now represent the country with De Brito working as a consultant and the squad absorbing holdovers Trisha Genesis and Jelaica Gajero.
The Philippines will kick off its AVC Cup hosting against Vietnam on Aug.21, China on Aug. 23, Iran on Aug. 24, and South Korea on Aug. 25.
The knockout quarterfinals are set on Aug. 27 with the semifinals set for Aug. 28 and the qualification matches and final on Aug. 29.