Aby Maraño relishes the role of being the “ate” of Team Rebisco.
A many-time national team member, Maraño is ready to lead the country in the 21st Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship which opens Friday at Terminal 21 competition hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
“Expectation lang ng team namin is maging solid yung exposure na ito for the team para mas mag grow kami since maraming bago sa amin at mga bata,” said Maraño before plunging to her team’s training session Thursday afternoon.
“Hindi rin namin alam kung ano na ang kayang gawin ng ibang teams kasi we didn’t get to play against them, it has been a while. BUT we will just focus on what we can do as a team and we expect that we will be able to deliver what we learned from training with our Brazilian coach Jorge (Edson Souza de Brito),” the former De La Salle middle blocker added.
Aside from Maraño, Eya Laure, Dindin Santiago-Manabat and Rhea Dimaculangan will also provide Rebisco the needed spark and leadership to the young players.
With a bevy of rising volleyball stars who are making their debut in the senior level, Team Rebisco is looking forward for the positives in the continental club tournament.
One of them is Mhicaela Belen, the 19-year old open spiker from National University who hopes to make the most out of her initial stint with the national team.
“I’m excited to play po because first, I did not expect that i would be part and playing in this kind of tournament because of the pandemic,” said Belen.
“I’m also excited to gain more knowledge about volleyball and i always get kilig by just thinking that I’m playing for the country again. Its such an honor to have a chance to prove that Philippines can also keep up to other countries when it comes to playing volleyball,” she added.
Jema Galanza, Faith Nisperos, Imee Hernandez, Ivy Lacsina, Rhea Dimaculangan, Kamille Cal, Jennifer Nierva and Bernadette Pepito completes the Rebisco squad.
Rebisco is bracketed in Pool B, which also has Thailand’s Supreme Chonburi, Kazakhstan’s Altay and Iran’s Saipa.
“Mindset lang ng team is i-enjoy every moment na magkapag-represent kami ulit ng country natin after two years na nahinto ang volleyball,” said Maraño.
“Mag-tutulungan lang kami kung ano ang kaya ng bawat is and with the collective efforts and hard work that we will render, eventually our time to be victorious will come,” she added.
“Patient kami sa lahat ng bagay at focused sa lahat ng steps na kailangan namin gawin para makamit namin ang inaasam ng buong team.”