Angel Canino, who has been one of Alas Pilipinas’ top performers in international campaigns, admitted that her upcoming Southeast Asian Games debut in Thailand has yet to sink in, with just a week away from the opener.
‘Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it too much yet. I haven’t fully visualized what it’s going to be like when we arrive in Thailand or what exactly will happen to us there,’ Canino told reporters in Filipino in the Philippine National Volleyball Federation on Saturday. But as she plays in the biennial meet for the first time, seeking to help the women’s national program end a 20-year medal drought, the former UAAP rookie MVP from La Salle is fully committed and ready to take on the challenge.
‘The team going into the SEA Games is younger, but I think that’s actually an advantage for us because we come from playing with a lot of pride. And this is another level of pride, since we’re carrying the entire Filipino community, the whole Philippines,’ Canino said.
Canino is one of nine Alas players who will be seeing action in the SEA Games for the first time.
Alas may have several young guns with her ex-rivals from National University Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon as well as Adamson’s rising star Shaina Nitura, but Canino believes that their youth could be their advantage against other teams.
‘Even if we’re a younger group, you can expect that we’ll push ourselves to the limit and do everything we can to perform and show what we’re capable of. That’s why we took on this responsibility, to show that we Filipinos can do it,’ she said.
Since being part of the Alas program last year, Canino has proven to be an international-caliber spiker. She was the Best Opposite Spiker in last year’s bronze medal run in the AVC Nations Cup in Manila, despite not playing in her natural position.
This year, Canino led Alas to the final and won the Best Outside Spiker award in their silver medal finish.
Canino is banking on the experience and tournaments they played together in the past two years when they play defending champion Thailand on December 11 before facing Singapore on December 12 in Pool A.
‘It helps a lot that we’ve already played together before. In terms of preparation, it’s the same situation, we usually only get two full days of complete training before a competition. But the trust we have in each other, our will to win, the heart every player brings – that’s something you can’t measure,’ Canino said.
‘Our past tournaments helped us a lot because we saw our lapses, and when we return to training, we already know what to fix and improve.’