IT’S green-and-go for Alyssa Valdez as she brings her act to foreign soil by joining club team 3BB Nakornnont in the 2017 Women’s Volleyball Thailand League.
The former Ateneo star secured her clearance to play in Thailand from the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI), the national federation for the sport, just hours before she flew to Bangkok on Sunday.
Under International Volleyball Federation rules, a player who intends to play overseas must secure a clearance from her national federation.
Valdez got her clearance in a last-minute meeting at the LVPI offices at the Arellano University campus in Manila.
“It was a [very nice] meeting,” LVPI acting president Peter Cayco told the BusinessMirror. “We support her 110 percent. We jokingly told her to give us tickets for us to watch her play in Thailand,” Cayco added. “But, seriously, the LVPI gives its full support to Alyssa on her new journey.”
Valdez will be playing for the Thai club for the next three months. She is depended upon to help hoist 3BB Nakornnont from its current position at fourth place with a 4-3 won-lost card in the eight-team tournament.
The three-time Most Valuable Player of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and Shakey’s V-League will play her first game on January 29. The team bared it will keep Valdez for the Thai-Denmark Super League in March.
Cayco also bared that Valdez would be available for the national team and that she will return home once national women’s team coach Francis Vicente calls for a tryout.
“She really wants to play for the national team. She said that she wants to go home and join the tryouts since there will be a break [in the Thailand tournament] to be given to her,” Cayco said.
The Philippines is competing in two major international competitions—19th Asian Seniors Women’s Volleyball Championship in Manila from August 9 to 17 and the 29th Southeast Asian Games from August 19 to 31 in Kuala Lumpur.