THE SHAKEY’S V-League can wait.
The Lady Spikers have opted to skip the second installment of the tournament which will kick off this July 3.New head coach Odjie Mamon said the team was still adjusting to his new system and they did not get an official invitation to the tournament anyway.
Mamon, who replaced coach Cesael Delos Santos, preferred that his wards focus on their training to ensure that they would be ready for the UAAP.
He said players which could compromise their eligibility in the UAAP could not afford to miss classes because of the tight V-League schedule.
“I don’t want to sacrifice each player’s eligibility since V-League is demanding when it comes to time,” he explained.
Besides, he said the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA) and their team did not receive any invitation from the V-League management to attend a “meeting” for the tournament.
“They (V-League management) only sent me a team registration through email. V-League had a meeting but we did not receive any invitation,” he said.
Still, he said the team would see action in the Unigames in Bacolod city and other pre-season tournaments. UST is planning to host a volleyball tournament before the UAAP competition in November.
“We will join or host pre-season tournaments as long as the players are fully conditioned,” Mamon said.
Mamon assured the Thomasian community that the black-and-gold tossers would be “in shape” by September or October owing to the team’s intense conditioning program.
“This is a long ‘unlearning’ process for the team. I want them to learny from my system,” he said.
They missed the first tournament of V-League’s season eight following injuries on a number of players, including team captain Maika Ortiz and open spiker Maruja Banaticla.
