Alas Pilipinas head coach Jorge de Brito. PVL Images
MANILA – As he embarks on an extended journey of handling the national team, Alas Pilipinas head coach Jorge de Brito admitted that there are "rising expectations" after their podium finish in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup.
Even before that, there was already enormous pressure for De Brito to perform and lead the Nationals to success.
His contract was supposed to end this month—but after the squad's historic bronze medal in the recent Asian tourney, also sweeping the preliminaries on top of that, there was clamor for him to continue serving the national team.
READ: Alas Pilipinas conquers Australia to cop bronze in AVC Challenge Cup
And his wish was granted: De Brito will be calling the shots for the national squad until the Southeast Asian Games next year, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation announced Friday.
Reflecting on this, De Brito said he was happy as they achieved the goal of ending a medal drought at the continental level while retaining his job.
READ: AVC Challenge Cup: Kapitana Jia still proud of Alas Pilipinas despite semis loss
READ: Jorge de Brito stays as head coach of Alas Pilipinas Women until 2025
"Well, I can tell you that I am very, very happy because I worked for three years here and our goal is always to win. But that’s a process that you have to go through and when you get these goals, of course, you’ll be happy," De Brito told select reporters on Tuesday.
De Brito acknowledged the players' contributions and was grateful for the chance to head the national team once more.
"I’m very proud of the players who did that, who helped us as a coaching staff to achieve this. Also, I’m really happy because I will be handling them again for the next [tournaments]. I’m sure, we are really, really close to getting better. I’m very happy," he went on.
But extended responsibility is accompanied by rising expectations, said De Brito.
"The expectations right now are getting higher, but also you have to remain grounded and understand that there’s still a lot of things to do," De Brito said.
"But you see, we have some vitamins already for winning. Also, with all the support from the fans, they are really excited to join. The guys can’t even wait for the time to start training again. Imagine, with little training (for the AVC Challenge Cup) we already did what we did," he said further. "So what if we had more time to train, imagine what we can get. So the players are really, really excited to join the training starting next week and our tuneup tomorrow. It’s really amazing what a win can do."
READ: Coach Jorge de Brito confirms inclusion of Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza in Alas Pilipinas pool
Alas will be participating in the FIVB Challenger Cup next month—another test of character for the 57-year-old volleyball maestro.
De Brito said they will start their build up on Wednesday, with Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza, Alyssa Solomon, and Bella Belen joining the already-stacked Alas Pilipinas pool.
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