Jia de Guzman bares Creamline return, but stays focused on Alas Pilipinas
The decorated setter revealed her plans on Tuesday, just days after helping the country win a historic silver medal in the 2025 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup in Vietnam.
But De Guzman stressed her focus is on Alas Pilipinas, especially with a busy year ahead for the national team.
"Of course I'm going back to Creamline but I went to a team that knows that I have responsibilities also to the flag," De Guzman said during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum.
"So right now, I'm very grateful because they're allowing me to focus entirely on Alas Pilipinas because they know I have a responsibility to the country."
Alas Women are set to compete in a pair of major tournaments.
They will return to Vietnam later this month for the VTV Cup before starting to gear up for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in December in Thailand.
De Guzman acknowledged the pressure to deliver results but shared they are just trusting the process of making something out of a youthful squad bannered by the likes of young guns in Angel Canino, Eya Laure, Fifi Sharma, Shaina Nitura, and Bella Belen.
But De Guzman, an eight-time PVL Best Setter and back-to-back AVC Best Setter, said that that pressure only helps them to aim higher.
"There's a lot of pressure to produce more results lalo na ngayon na we're reaching heights that we hadn't reached before," De Guzman said.
"For us, 'yung number one talaga is to try trust the process and just keep showing up everyday to be better. But of course, yes, we will fight for that podium finish as we do every tournament naman talaga."
Moving forward, De Guzman has full confidence in her teammates' ability to step up as the nation bids to break a 32-year gold medal dry spell at the SEA Games.
"I have no doubts sa buong team na walang nagbibigay ng everything nila. That's the environment that we've been setting for the past years. There's no need for me to rally everyone, to try harder, to put more into their bodies, because I know everyone's giving their best."
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
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