Russian import Marina Tushova did not mince her words when asked about the Philippine volleyball play style, but she wasn’t without her praises either.
Early into the PVL Reinforced Conference, a huge question for every import is the style of volleyball in the Philippines. Whether it’s one of the four returnees, or the new faces, just about everyone had been asked to give their assessment on the local playing style.
The responses are mostly the same: fast-paced, scrappy, solid defense. If we’ll ask OGs like Khat Bell and MJ Perez, then you’ll also hear that our talent pool has improved over the last five years.
At least one import, though, had a more surprising take on Tuesday. Enter Capital1’s Marina Tushova, who reporters spoke to after the Solar Spikers’ upset over the Petro Gazz Angels.
With a wealth of experience across Russia and Europe, Tushova would frankly say: “Sorry if it’s gonna be rude, but it’s not that high quality like sets, passing and all these.”
But that’s not to say the Russian’s view was completely negative. In fact, she may have just pointed out an underappreciated intangible among Philippine volleyball players.
Tushova’s first positive? It all lies in the heart (for) volleyball: “You are like…Filipinos always want the best of everything, and you enjoy the game, and you have a big desire”.
At the same time, there was the unpredictability of Filipino squads. So despite her opening words, the Russian doesn’t see her Asian counterparts as pushovers either.
“Sometimes you play so good like Japan, Asian teams…and here it’s level like this. So good defense, and you never know how the team is going to play against you. Like today, no one was thinking we were going to play like this. But we were starving, our win, and we did it,” Marina Tushova said, drawing parallels between Philippine volleyball and Capital1’s upset over the Angels.
Up next for Marina Tushova and Capital1 will be the Cignal HD Spikers this Saturday. Now, we’ll be eager to see whether or not she and Capital1 can orchestrate another upset against the red-and-white crew.
In the leadup to that, though, she can focus on opening her treasure trove of experience to Capital1’s young bunch. As head coach Roger Gorayeb said: “Marina after this conference will be leaving. But she will be leaving us a good example for the All-Filipino Conference. These players will learn many things from Marina! And I hope they learn it and put it in their hearts.”
Banner Image courtesy of the Premier Volleyball League. Special thanks to Noel Zarate.
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