Valerie Orlanes of Region 7 soars for a spike during the elementary girls volleyball competition. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)
THE Philippine men’s and women’s volleyball teams will conduct open tryouts all over the country starting this December as they start their search for potential spikers who could help the country in the next Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, slated August 2017.
National team head coach Sinfronio Acaylar bared the information to Cebu Daily News during last Sunday’s Cesafi volleyball finals at the University of San Carlos (USC) Main gym, where he was scouting for potential players for the national teams.
“We will be starting in Luzon in the first week of December and on the last week of January in Visayas, particularly in Cebu,” Acaylar, the former
Southwestern University
Acaylar added they prefer acquiring graduates so that there won’t be conflict of schedules between their training and studies as they plan to start their practices in March 2017.
Acaylar also denied the rumors that the tryouts will just be for selected players in Cebu. Earlier last week, a source from the national team, who refused to be named, told CDN they will just be inviting players in Cebu.
“No. It’s open for everyone,” Acaylar clarified. “We sent invitations to some professional players to be a part of the tryouts in Manila, but the tryout in Cebu is open.”
Acaylar said that he wanted to give some athletes the opportunity by reaching out to them because he believes that there are some gems in the province waiting to be discovered.
“We have to look players from all over the country to give athletes from the province a chance to show their potential. I know there are a lot of hidden potentials in the province.”