MANILA, Philippines – Appointed team captain for the second time, Aby Maraño looks to bring her energy to the court as the Philippine women’s volleyball team braces for a busy 2019.

“Kahit gaano kahirap pinagdadaanan ng team, hangga’t ang captain nila ay hindi umaayaw, hindi bumibitaw, sana makakuha sila ng energy from me or makahugot sila ng lakas ng loob sa akin,” said the fiery captain.

(No matter what diffculties this team has to go through, and as long as their captain doesn’t give up, we’ll keep going so I hope they can get energy from me or gain confidence from me.)

As early as January, Maraño said the team is already exerting double effort in training for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. 

“Simula noong January, pukpukan eh – training, liga, national team – so we train 3 times a day, twice a day, yung pagod and hirap, iyon yung kalaban namin,” explained Maraño as she and her teammates will definitely juggle their respective club commitments with national team duty. 

(It was already challenging starting January – training, leagues, national team – so we train 3 times a day, twice a day, so it’s really fatigue and the tough schedule that we’re dealing with.) 

The team captain believes that the national squad – which saw action in the 2018 Asian Games and the 2018 AVC Cup – also has to be serious in order to compete with their Southeast Asian counterparts. 

Maraño cited some points of improvement that the team needs to focus on based on their performances last year. 

“For me, ang kailangan natin i-improve ay ang aming floor defense, maging aggressive tayo sa part na iyon kasi we know na yung mga nakakaharap namin sa SEA Games, talagang magaling sila sa depensa,” said the former La Salle star. 

“And yung jelling ng team, kasi yung mga teams ng Thailand and Vietnam, they are training whole year round at magkakasama talaga yung team na ito, so kung improvement ng team, sabay talaga.” 

(For me, we have to improve our floor defense, we have to be aggressive there because we know that our SEA Games opponents are really good in defense.

And we have to improve the jelling of the team because the Thailand and Vietnam teams train whole year round and they stick together, so the team improves together.) 

The senior women’s national team will compete in tournaments like the AVC Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship in China and the 20th Asian Senior Women’s Championship in South Korea to also prepare for the regional biennial meet. 

Like her veteran teammates, Maraño will not be satisfied until she experiences a winning SEA Games campaign with the national team. (READ: Alyssa Valdez targets 2019 SEA Games medal)  – Rappler.com