PH volleyball teams to train in Japan as part of exchange program

FILE–Philippine women’s volleyball team in the 31st SEA Games. AVC PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine men’s and women’s volleyball teams and beach volleyball squads will train in Japan as part of their build-up for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) on Wednesday announced that it forged a Training Exchange Program with the Japan Volleyball Association (JVA).

The men’s and women’s volleyball squads will hold training camps with Japanese university or club teams for two weeks in April, a month before the SEA Games.

The beach volleyball teams will have a training camp at the Toyota Center in Hekinan City in Aichi Prefecture in February and March.

The squads led by Jovelyn Gonzaga and Sisi Rondina and men’s players Krung Arbasto and Jude Garcia will also start their build-up at Club Laiya in Batangas in January.

The partnership will also set a friendly between the Philippine men’s volleyball team and the crowd-favorite Japan, which will arrive ahead of the Volleyball Nations League that the country is again hosting in June next year.

The PNVF-JVA partnership started in July with president Ramon “Tats” Suzara meeting with Japan volleyball head Shunichi Kawai on Monday at the JVA headquarters in Tokyo to seal the program that involves the national indoor and beach volleyball teams of both nations.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be working alongside such a strong federation with a grand tradition and rich history in the sport,” said Suzara, who was accompanied in Tokyo by PNVF executive director Marie Louise Principe and executive assistant Antonio Carlos Jr.

“This collaborative partnership of PNVF with JVA helps underline the FIVB’s initiatives under its Empowerment Commission, to strengthen national training programs of different federations through knowledge transfer and sharing of best practices,” added Suzara, who was appointed by the International Volleyball Federation or FIVB as secretary of its Empowerment Commission.

The beach volleyball squads are seeking to surpass their back-to-back bronze medal finishes in the past two SEA Games.

The men’s volleyball team, coached by Dante Alinsunurin, eyes to redeem itself after missing the podium in Hanoi, Vietnam, failing to sustain its runner-up finish in Manila three years ago.

The women’s volleyball team, which had different roster changes in major international tournaments this 2022, has yet to make the SEA Games podium since 2005.