The Philippines’ women’s national team is currently facing issues after the Philippine National Volleyball Federation Inc. (PNVF) failed to release an updated player pool for the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December.
Alas Pilipinas Women head coach Jorge Souza De Brito told Spin.ph in an interview that only a handful of players have been training for the SEA Games ever since the initial player pool list was announced.
“We keep on training with two guys sometimes, sometimes four, sometimes three, but we are always there.
“Probably, we’ll have some additions from our original 25 players from the line-up.
“Let’s be honest, I need feedback from them and also if the clubs would let them join. That’s our national team.”
Team captain Jia de Guzman, spikers Eya Laure and Vanessa Gandler, and liberos Dawn Macandili-Catindig and Jen Nierva are some of the only players attending the national team training so far.
The majority of the players from the initial pool released by PNVF weeks ago are still playing for their mother clubs in the 2025 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference.
PVL tournament
PVL President Ricky Palou told reporters on Thursday that Alas Pilipinas Women players will only be allowed by their teams to play for the national team once they are eliminated from the ongoing conference.
Palou shared that the move was an agreement among the clubs competing in the Reinforced Conference.
“What the team owners have agreed on is that when the teams are eliminated, if they have players who are in the national pool, they will be released to the national team.
“But until they get eliminated, they’ll keep on playing for the team,” the PVL head said.
He also stressed that the PNVF has yet to release the updated women’s pool for the upcoming SEA Games in December, leaving teams guessing if their players are part of the national team pool or not.
Palou insisted that national team players are allowed to attend Alas Pilipinas training, adding that the volleyball stars are allowed to choose whether to train for their club team or for the national team.
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Alas Pilipinas Men in Taiwan
It is a different story for the SEA Games preparations of the Alas Pilipinas Men.
The men’s pool is currently in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as part of a special training camp.
The majority of the players have already pulled out from the ongoing 2025 Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference to focus on their Alas Pilipinas Men training.
Stars such as Marck Espejo, Kim Malabunga, Louie Ramirez, Leo Ordiales, Josh Ybañez, Peng Taguibolos, and Lloyd Josafat will be facing Taiwanese teams throughout their stay to boost their SEA Games campaign.
They are expected to bank on their historic run at the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship when they face their fellow Southeast Asian teams next month.
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