SUWON CITY, South Korea – Philippine national men’s volleyball team head coach Sammy Acaylar likes the improvement of his wards midway through their two-week training camp here.
After four tune-up matches, a daily grueling strength and endurance grind, as well as developing team chemistry on and off the court, Acaylar yesterday gave his team a satisfactory mark.
But the mentor knows there is still a lot of work to be done to whip his team into a strong medal contender in the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia slated on Aug. 19 to 31.
“I’m happy that we are able to identify and address our weakness in service receive, blocking and floor coverage,” said Acaylar, the architect of the last PH squad to earn a podium spot in the biennial meet after steering the Nationals to a bronze medal finish in 1991.
The Nationals won a total of three sets in tune-up games against the Korean U-19 team, Korean Universiade U-23 squad and club team Hwasung City. Acaylar requested all of their tune-up games to be played for five sets regardless of the results of the frame to immerse his wards to high level of volleyball competition.
“Ang pinakaimportante lang doon ay every time we have a tune-up game ay nagi-improve sila. Nagi-improve ang team natin. Nakikita ko na kahit galing kami sa conditioning training tuwing umaga, they work and push themselves to improve,” Acaylar said.
