Jia De Guzman’s leadership is as impeccable as it can get.
Leaders were made, not born.
And in the case of the Alas Pilipinas, team captain Jia De Guzman commends the team for stepping up to the plate and moving their best foot forward in any given role on any given night.
“Everyone was very willing to take on any role of leadership,” De Guzman revealed on Pilipinas Live’s Starting Line-Up.
The 2024 AVC Women’s Challenge Cup Best Setter also credited Alas Pilipinas Women’s libero’s Dawn Macandili Catindig and Jen Nierva for being the main defensive anchors of the squad, and the likes of youngsters Thea Gagate and Fifi Sharma stepping up to protect the the middle.
“It wasn’t just me. It was a lot of work coming from the seniors and it was also a lot of work coming from the young ones coming from the team. So total team effort siya.”
De Guzman, a many-time PVL champion with the Creamline Cool Smashers, also shared that the team took that semifinal loss to Kazakhstan heavily.
“Coming from a sweep in the eliminations and our first loss was against Kazakhastan, syempre we were hopeful that we could make it through the match. But then, you could see that, the team felt the loss,” De Guzman admitted.
“Some were taking it a little harder than the others, especially siguro the young ones.”
Alas Pilipinas were riding high into that semifinal encounter, having swept Pool A, including wins against Chinese Taipei, India, and Australia. However, their dream ended in a straight-set loss against the heavily-favored Kazakhs.
[ALSO READ: AVC: Jia de Guzman proud of fight shown by Alas Pilipinas despite semis loss to Kazakhstan]
De Guzman quickly reminded her teammates that Kazakhastan was simply a better team with a whole lot of experience playing together as a team compared to Alas Pilipinas Women, who came into that match on just their fifth game as a whole squad.
“So we have to learn to accept that fact and move forward to the next game.”
The many-time PVL champion with the Creamline Cool Smashers emphasized on the mindset of moving on quickly into the next game regarding the results, especially in international tournaments.
“What can we do better kasi ‘yun ‘yung mas control namin,” she spoke.
“We really need to teach the team na ganoon yung pag-change ng mindset especially in an international tournament na mas maiksi, you really don’t have much time to think.”
De Guzman’s wisdom quickly echoed through the whole squad and the rest is history.
“Everyone was eager to play better the next day. It wasn’t na we really need to get that bronze, it was more of I wanna be better than I was today.”
Alas Pilipinas would eventually repeat over Australia to secure its first-ever podium finish in the Asian Volleyball Confederation and indeed, Kapitana Jia’s message got through the whole squad.
[ALSO READ: Alas Pilipinas repeat over Australia to net historic bronze medal in AVC Challenge Cup]
For now, Jia and Co. are preparing for their next battle in the upcoming FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup.