Unity with a heart

MANILA, Philippines - Their smiles radiate on and off the court. As both come to the shoot in lounging colored denim shorts and carrying a training bag, they warmly greeted the people around with a big smile – even after being stuck in traffic for two hours.

Volleyball MVP Alyssa Valdez is up first. The challenges start when she is asked to make her face a little bit fierce and strong. Having that tad of a bubbly persona, she has a difficult time and in some of her photos, her smile just keeps on becoming wider and wider. The photographer explains to her the concept of the shoot but to no avail. “We’re ruining the image of the brand!” laughs Michelle “Denden” Lazaro when it was her turn.

“Especially me because I don’t have any real sisters and I only have three brothers,” says Alyssa. “I share with her my love life, the problems and challenges that I encounter along the way. Not just with Denden, of course, but with the whole team in general. I call all of them Besh, short for best friends.”

Alyssa also has a moniker in the group — “Phenom” short for phenomenal. “When you say Alyssa Valdez, she is the god of volleyball,” Denden says.

For Alyssa and Denden, four words come to mind: happy, unity and heart strong. “They mean almost the same thing,” says Denden. “We need to be happy, we need to work as a team and we need to persevere until the end.”

This perseverance was tested when she suddenly got injured during the game. The therapist who looked after her told her to just sit out the whole game because there was going to be a game three. But in the next set, their coach talked to Denden. “He told me to just stand there in the court so that was what I did,” she says. “I was able to do that because it was all about adrenalin.”

Another secret to winning this game is that they employ constant communication during practice and the game day itself. “There are a lot of rookies in our team so we need to motivate and guide them too,” says Denden. “For example, when they make mistakes, we teach them. For us, there are no seniors or freshman – we treat everyone as equals. We just do our individual roles.”

“The rookies actually serve as our inspiration because they just play around,” adds Alyssa who is an open spiker. “We, seniors carry a lot of pressure but because we see them enjoy and just have fun, we get energy from them.”

“I was just doing what I love to do, and maybe that’s the reason why the blessings keep on flowing,” Alyssa says.

Their routine involves practicing every day – Monday to Sunday – without missing a beat; twice a day, one in the early morning and the other late in the afternoon; in between classes. They don’t do diets since their coach would let them eat anything on the menu. They meditate before a game, closing their eyes and focusing on winning. Because of all these, they claim that they don’t have any social lives anymore.

When the competition started, winning was the farthest thing from their mind. Aside from being plagued with injuries, they lost their very first game and training increased. They also had to adjust when there were changes in positions.

But overall, they were bent on having fun and that was what they did! Denden believes that this was also one of their secrets to victory. “There was no pressure, at first,” she says. “But when the scores were getting tighter and we were down and discouraged on the second set, we still had to do our best.”

There coach motivates them by telling them not to cry when they get down because there is always a next time to bounce back.

“When we finally won, we really didn’t know what to do,” says Alyssa. “We just kept on hugging anyone who was in the way. We all had a solo moment.”

Aside from the MVP, Alyssa also took home the best scorer and the best server awards. “I am so thankful for my teammates but we always have our goal in mind: to win every game and not just to win awards.”

For aspiring athletes who want to get into the field, Denden says, “Persevere, work hard and put your heart in what you do. If you fail, then get back on your feet.” Alyssa adds, “Just don’t expect because the more you expect, the more you get discouraged. So don’t expect. Just work hard. One thing that they need to learn is to listen too. Every day, you are being taught something new and always be open to that.”

Yurbuds sport earphones has invited them to be brand ambassadors. It is also through this product that they are on top of their game. “I like the product because it suits our lifestyle,” says Denden who often listens to the music of Maroon 5.

“We actually use it before the game because we like to listen to music – inside the bus or our way to the game,” says Alyssa. “It’s very useful.”

“It helps me concentrate and hypes me up during the game,” says Alyssa.

Both claim that one of the features they love about yurbuds is the twist and lock feature, especially since it doesn’t fall off when they do some running around the block. “I love the colors as well,” says Denden. “Funky, neat and attractive as well.” Alyssa remembers an incident when a friend gifted her with a blue yurbuds. She didn’t waste any time in partnering it with her blue shirt. “It was fun doing that,” she says.

Yurbuds is available at Power Mac Center, Runnr, Planet Sports, and R.O.X.