After historic UAAP campaign, Bella Belen hungry for more glory with NU
NU’s Bella Belen. SSL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Six months after becoming the UAAP women’s volleyball’s first-ever Rookie MVP and ending National University’s 65-year title drought, Bella Belen continues to chase the best version of herself even in their preseason campaign in the Shakey’s Super League.
Belen remains hungry for more even after coming off a historic maiden campaign for the Lady Bulldogs.
She kept her word to never be satisfied with all her accolades as her coach told her before: “Every day, someone might be born who will be better than us.”
“Ako naman po kasi naniniwala ako sa sarili ko na mayroon po akong kayang i-improve as a player. Hindi naman po kasi araw-araw magaling ako. Naniniwala po kasi ako lagi na mayroong time na darating na mayroong makakalaban ako na mas magaling sa akin,” said Belen, who was also named 1st Best Outside Hitter in UAAP Season 84. “So hindi ako pwedeng mag-stop porke’t nakakuha na ako ng maraming awards. Dapat mag-set pa rin ako ng goal ko sa sarili ko kung ano ang kaya ko at dapat ko pang i-improve as a player.”
(I believe that I still have more to improve as a player. Because it’s not every day that I will play well. The time will come when I will play against a better player. So I can’t stop and be satisfied with my achievements. I should set a goal for myself to keep on improving and reach my full potential.)
The 20-year-old spiker is eager to keep on learning even after her 24-point effort in NU’s 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17 victory over University of Santo Tomas in the knockout semifinal on Friday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Belen said NU coach Karl Dimaculangan and his staff make sure to always keep their wards’ feet on the ground, despite their perfect 16-0 title run in Season 84 and winning their first seven games in the SSL to reach the winner-take-all final against La Salle on November 19.
“Our coaches always remind us that all teams want to beat us because of our previous achievements. So for us, even though we’re always winning, we avoid complacency. And we don’t want to lose games. We still have a lot of things to look forward to and set more goals even in victory,” said the 5-foot-7 spiker in Filipino. “We’re not satisfied with where we are right now.”
The Lady Bulldogs remained formidable despite the departure of Ivy Lacsina and other seniors thanks in large part to their system.
“We have a goal as a team. We don’t base it on the players who left and the rookies. What we do is we introduce our system to the newcomers until they were able to adopt it,” she said. “It’s hard to fill in the void left by Ate Ivy. Because she was one of our key players, especially in the middle. So we told each other we will keep on working and helping each other so we won’t have a hard time filling that void.”
Belen hopes to continue her progress as the Lady Bulldogs try to win another championship in the maiden SSL tournament in the championship game on Saturday next week.
