AFTER BOWING out of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 Volleyball Tournament semifinals, the Ateneo Women’s Volleyball Team also dealt with the departure of Coach Tai Bundit.
Filling in the void left by Ateneo’s Thai mentor is Coach Oliver Almadro, who took his talents to the women’s team after a decorated stint at the helm of the men’s team.
Coach Oliver, or “Coach O” as he is commonly referred to, is recognized as one of the most passionate and vocal coaches in the league. The prolific instructor is on his ninth year with the Ateneo Volleyball program, serving as an assistant coach for both the Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Teams in Season 70 before heading the Blue Eagles in Seasons 71-72.
He briefly left the Blue and White for National University (NU) but eventually returned to the Katipunan-based squad in Season 76 where he led the team to its first Final Four appearance. In his return as head coach of the Blue Eagles, Almadro successfully led the squad to a three-peat from Seasons 77 to 79 before falling just short of a four-year streak last season.
Change of scenery
This time around, Almadro will have a completely different line-up at his disposal for the daunting task ahead of him as he looks to return the UAAP crown to Loyola Heights. However, this is not the Lady Eagles mentor’s first rodeo with a collegiate women’s team. Earlier in his coaching career, Almadro was an assistant coach for the De La Salle University Lady (DLSU) Spikers from 1997-2007 aside from stints with the St. Jude College Lady Crusaders and the University of Asia and the Pacific Lady Dragons.
Upon accepting his new role with the Lady Eagles, Almadro remained firm in implementing his system to the team. “When I was tapped for the position and I moved to the women’s team, I already [spoke] to the management, to the athletics office, telling them that, basically, I won’t change my system, my style, and my techniques.”
Admittedly, however, the established instructor knew that he needed to adjust his coaching style to match the Lady Eagles. “With the women’s team, there’s a mix of gracefulness, of course you don’t remove the passion and the fierceness but [when teaching] the women’s team, [there’s a mix of] tender love and care.”
According to Team Captain Maddie Madayag, it has been relatively easy to adjust to the new coaching style because of how vocal he is. “It’s easier to adjust because Coach [Almadro] tells us what to do, we don’t have to think [too much] on the court, we just have to play our game and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Graduating player Kim Gequillana shares the same sentiments as Madayag with regard to Almadro’s coaching style and attention to detail. Most notably, she appreciates how dedicated and patient their new head coach has been with them, carefully going through the fundamentals one step at a time.
However, adjustments still had to be made as a new system, points of emphasis, coaching styles, and methods were being incorporated to the team. “I think the main challenge was for us to process the information that we had to take from Coach O. With Coach Tai, we were used to small words,” Gequillana said. “Now, everything is more informative, [there are] more details, more information especially because that’s what we lacked before, and now it’s being taught to us.”
A new era
Apart from the fundamentals, one of the major values that Almadro has brought to the team is the concept of family. For the Lady Eagles coach, treating each other as family makes the process much easier for everyone because the benefit of the team is the main priority. Madayag remarks that this concept of intimate camaraderie Alamadro has preached to them has allowed the team to jell more on and off the court. “I think the relationship we have now [as a team] is a lot stronger because with Coach O’s system, he really wants us to be a family.”
Almadro has only been with the team for less than a year but he has already led the girls to a second-place finish in the Viking Cup Open and a silver finish in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference last December 2018. Despite the Lady Eagles’ success during the preseason, however, the highly-regarded mentor remains cautious about thinking too far into the UAAP.
“Of course, the team expectation is for us to reach the finals again, but first we have to be in the final four,” he said. “That’s our number one priority. From there, we will have the opportunity to be back in the finals.”
Indeed, it is an exciting time for the Ateneo community and volleyball fans alike as we witness a new chapter unfold for Coach Almadro and the Lady Eagles. While familiar faces don the Blue and White in Season 81, their principles and values have already been molded anew.
Photo by Joshua Tan
