PVL: Highrisers seek balance, character at resumption

Rookie Julia Coronel has earned high praises from coach Lerma Giron. —PVL IMAGES

Galeries Tower is still finding things tough even in its fourth conference in the PVL. And with results still far from what she wants to see, coach Lerma Giron stays true to what has been fueling her all this time.

“I stick by my passion and purpose,” Giron told the Inquirer with a mix of Filipino as the Highrisers limp into the new year with a 1-5 record.

To keep putting out flames and get the push to continue on, Giron would rather look at the lessons she is getting rather than beat herself up from how her team struggles to get out of the slump.

“As a rookie coach, this is teaching me to be patient,” said Giron, the only one to handle the Highrisers so far. “I get impatient, too, sometimes. But then again this is the process.

“This is also a challenge for me to be creative, research about the strength and weakness of the team and focus on that.”

Galeries Tower went through a baptism by fire when it first joined the league in the second All-Filipino Conference of 2023. It won one game and 11th, before notching three wins in the next conference to be 10th among 12 teams.

And just when it seemed that better days were ahead, the Highrisers wound up winless in the last Reinforced Conference even if the team was playing more than decent floor defense.

‘Lacking maturity’

But Giron knows that a one-dimensional approach definitely won’t cut it.

“The young ones are still lacking maturity,” she explained. “Some of them have just returned to the sport and are all still so young, that’s why I want them to develop character.”

She has potentially good players in Alyssa Eroa, Ysa Jimenez, Graze Bombita, Dimdim Pacres, playmaker Renee Mabilangan and France Ronquillo.

The Highrisers got great talents in the Rookie Draft, with No. 2 pick Alas Pilipinas stalwart Julia Coronel and second-round pick out of University of the Philippines Jewel Encarnacion, as Galeries tries to beef up its offense.

“[They bring] aggressiveness and passion. The two young ones have different drives, especially [Coronel],” said Giron. “We just need to find the balance [in this team].”