After leading the team to back-to-back Finals appearances in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball tournament, Coach Roger Gorayeb stepped down from the Ateneo Lady Spiker’s head coaching position, leaving the squad without a leader.

Since Gorayeb’s departure, two distinct voices have directed the university’s up-and-coming women’s volleyball team to success in Season 76: Coach Parley Tupaz and Coach Tai Bundit.

Coach Parley Tupaz

THE ROLE of a coach is vital to the success of an individual athlete and a team as a whole. The coach is said to be the one who calls the shots during games, the authority figure that leads the team to victory. Coach Parley Tupaz of the Ateneo women’s volleyball team, however, is not perceived as someone who merely tells the team what to do, but a mentor who connects with each and every one of his players.

Tupaz, fondly called “Coach Parley” by his players, was once a volleyball player himself and a member of the national team. He was recruited because of his stellar performance in the collegiate leagues and donned the country’s colors for 11 years before eventually retiring.

After his playing days, he tried his hand at being a coach and joined the coaching staff of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde men’s beach volleyball squad for the National Colleges Athletic Association (NCAA). Coach Parley was able to bring the team to a podium finish several times during this stint. More significantly, however, is that there he found his love for coaching, which led to his decision of making a career out of it.

In 2011, he became the Head Coach of the Ateneo men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams. During this time, he also joined the indoor women’s volleyball team as an assistant coach to Head Coach Roger Gorayeb.

After Gorayeb left to focus on coaching the San Sebastian’s women’s volleyball team, Coach Parley, together with Thai coach Anusorn “Tai” Bundit, took his place as the Head Coach of the Ateneo Lady Spikers.

Coach Parley’s coaching style mainly focuses on endurance and mental conditioning. To ensure that the team is disciplined and persistent, he requires them to train twice a day: A couple of hours in the morning where he works on the team’s physical endurance, then three hours in the evening to focus on game strategies.

He shares that he is quite strict in enforcing some of his rules. “When I set a call time for the players, I expect them to be there right on time. I also expect them to do the drills properly so that they may learn to be disciplined and have the proper stamina.”

Though he’s a strict trainer during workouts, he is also considered a brotherly mentor who is always concerned of his athletes’ states.  “[Coach Parley] is understanding and we can see that when he asks us if we can train or not during times when we are ill or have body pains. He is more than a coach to us; he has become a friend and a brother,” shares Lady Spiker Marge Tejada.

Team Captain Alyssa Valdez echoes her teammate’s sentiments, “Coach really cares for us. We see him as a brother because we can always talk to him about our concerns.”

These close ties that he shares with his players are a significant part of Coach Parley’s love for coaching. It also makes the sight of his players improving under his watch a whole lot sweeter.

Despite being put under pressure on numerous occasions in and out of the court, Coach Parley’s love for the game and his players are more than enough to keep him going every time he patrols the sidelines for the Ateneo women’s volleyball team.

Photo by Ryan Y. Racca

Coach Tai Bundit

AFTER THE abrupt departure of Head Coach Roger Gorayeb, the Ateneo women’s volleyball team had an important gap to fill. In order to rebuild a team that not only lost its former mentor but also the person who had served as the team’s core for the past few seasons, Team Manager Tony Boy Liao introduced someone entirely new: Anusorn “Tai” Bundit.

Coach Tai hails from Thailand, which has been dominating the Southeast Asia’s volleyball scene of late. Once a national team player himself, he currently coaches his country’s junior national team. Having produced some of the top-caliber talents back home, and given that Thailand is now the leading country in the juniors division of Southeast Asia, Coach Tai boasts quite an impressive track record.

When Coach Tai was first introduced to the Ateneo team, the players felt he was distant and strict. He was focused on his goals and prepared the team for the upcoming UAAP season through rigorous training. He treated the Lady Spikers as professional athletes, a style that he was accustomed to from coaching in Thailand.

“Sometimes he forgets that we are student-athletes,” says Team Captain Alyssa Valdez. “He sometimes treats us as professional athletes.”

Still, the team continues to improve under Coach Tai’s watch despite the difference in coaching styles between the Thai mentor and his predecessor. Coach Gorayeb focused on strategy training, while Coach Tai approached the team with an emphasis on conditioning and skill training.

Despite having a language barrier between Coach Tai and the Lady Spikers, they use volleyball as a common language in order to communicate with each other.

“Minsan pag nagbibigay siya ng instructions, hindi namin alam kung ano gagawin namin pero dine-demonstrate naman niya (Sometimes, when he gives instructions, we do not know what to do, but he demonstrates it to us),” shares Valdez. “Pero nakaka-adjust na rin kami; unang-una kasi, ‘yung mga pinapagawa naman niya, nagawa na namin noon (But we are able to adjust; primarily because we’ve already done the things that he makes us do).”

Another big factor that makes Coach Tai a great coach is his way of motivating the players to stick to their goals. He is very positive and patient, especially towards the younger players of the team. His favourite and most striking words to the Lady Spikers are to play “heart strong” and to play “happy.” Coach Tai influences the team to play with all their heart and to enjoy the game at the same time.

Recently, however, Coach Tai has been unable to attend the squad’s volleyball games due to his commitments to his home country’s junior national team and to his family. His recent absence has been a tough pill to swallow for his players, especially since they acknowledge that their mentor’s presence during the games elevated their performance to a whole new level. Until he returns, the team will have to fight on and play “heart strong,” just the way he taught them.