Umingan rules PNVF U18 tourney

(UPDATE) WHO would have thought a bunch of boys from the municipality of Umingan who’ve virtually never tasted the tough and rough action in the big city would emerge champions of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) Under-18 Championships Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum?

Umingan rules PNVF U18 tourney

And who would readily agree to the fact that their coach didn’t even get to play competitive volleyball at all — although he ran the 100, 200 and 400 meters of athletics in his elementary and high school days representing the Pangasinan town that sits on the border with Nueva Ecija?

Add to the mix that he doesn’t even teach physical education, but the head of mathematics at the Umingan National High School.

“It’s tough, too tough, we’ve gone through much challenges,” said an ecstatic Eusebio Solis moments after he coached his team to a 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 16-14 pulsating come-from-behind win over VNS-Savouge to win the boys crown of the championships.

“But we proved something with this victory, that we, provincial teams, could stay in stride or even beat the strong teams from the big city,” added Solos, who admitted he did some arithmetic of sorts in figuring out how he could become a volleyball coach and teach the sport’s rudiments to kids despite his zero experience in the sport.

“I went to my mentors,” he said, keeping to himself who they were.

Provincial team Umingan is but these young Pangasinenses, all students of their town’s national high school and basically supported by their parents, are on their way to the Palarong Pambansa nationals in Cebu in July.