Petro Gazz coach Koji Tsuzurabara and head of operations Oliver Almadro during the PVL Draft Combine. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Petro Gazz is leaving no stone unturned with the opportunity to get solid acquisitions from the PVL Draft aspirants and free agents who attended the first-ever Draft Combine this week.
Head of volleyball operations Oliver Almadro said Japanese coach Koji Tsuzurabara took a long hard look at the 47 rookies as well as the 11 free agents to help the Angels in their ‘three-peat’ bid in the Reinforced Conference on July 16.
Although Petro Gazz is picking 10th in the first round, Tsuzurabara had perfect attendance in the two-day Draft Combine at GameVille Ball Park — even the morning session with the free agents.
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Almadro said their head coach ranked the players during the combine, seeking to pick the best available in their 10th and 20th picks.
“We’re lookin’bg at who’s the best available players in every position. We will talk about what position will be fit for our team for the next few conferences, for the next years. But Coach Koji’s happy and he’s really ranking every player, every position,” the Petro Gazz executive told reporters.
“These players are talented. Some players nga, hindi pa nakita in the UAAP. Some of them are in the NCAA, and some of them are in the provinces. It just shows that there are really, really lots of talent here in the Philippines. We just have to provide exposure for them to compete with Manila teams.”
Almadro, who coaches the University of the Philippines in the UAAP and Letran in the NCAA, said the pro teams can’t count out the NCAA players and other aspirants from provinces and even abroad.
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“For the UAAP, NCAA, I guess it’s about time na magkaroon ng joint league para malaman talaga ‘yung (level of play). Sometimes, ‘yung NCAA, na-uunderrate eh. We know naman that the UAAP is at a much higher level but you cannot underestimate kasi the NCAA players, the provincial players kasi talagang the volleyball here in the country is really growing. The level’s going up,” he said.
Petro Gazz is coming off a bronze finish in the All-Filipino Conference with Brooke Van Sickle emerging as the MVP in her PVL debut.
The Angels are seeking to complete their third straight Reinforced Conference reign, two years after Lindsey Vander Weide led them to a golden repeat.
“The coaches and the team are really excited going to this conference. We cannot count out other teams. Other teams have good imports also. They have talented players, they are intact,” Almadro said. “Malaking bagay na umabot kami ng Final Four last conference so it’s really a good challenge for us going into this conference. Sana ma-sustain namin ‘yung record or ‘yung laging nagagawa ng Petro Gazz.”