THE Alas Pilipinas Under-16 girls squad has seven months to prepare for the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship in Chile the program of which includes possible overseas training and an expanded player pool.

From having just two weeks to prepare and put the 12 high school players coming from different players on the same page, the youngest national volleyball team became the country’s first squad to qualify for a world championship without needing an automatic berth from hosting.

The Alas girls finished fifth place in the 2nd Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship following a 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22 win over Thailand on Saturday at the Prince Hamzah Sports Hall in Amman to snatch the last Asian ticket for the worlds.

“This is big for Philippine volleyball and we’re looking at the future,” said Philippine National Volleyball Federation president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, who as AVC president followed the girls’ campaign entirely in Jordan.

China qualified as defending world champion even before reaching the Final Four of the Amman competition, while the other qualified Asian teams are newly-crowned AVC U16 champion South Korea, runner-up Chinese Taipei and fourth placer Japan.

After proving what these girls can do despite the short preparation, Alas U16 coach Edwin Leyva will make the most of the seven-month preparation with the AVC and Suzara supporting their training—including an overseas camp.

“This time, hopefully we can prepare better,” Leyva said. “As Mr. Tats Suzara mentioned, we’ll have more time to get ready probably around six to seven months before the tournament in Chile.”

“There’s also a possibility that we’ll train abroad so we can learn and adopt the systems used in Japan, Korea or Chinese Taipei,” he added.

Leyva also seeks to add players to his 12-member, history-making squad, led by team captain Xyz Rayco.

“Hopefully, we can expand the training pool to make it a bit bigger. That way, we can pull players from the remaining pool when needed. We can’t just keep things the same. We either have to strengthen the lineup or maintain it, depending on the team’s unity and camaraderie,” he said.

The 14-year-old Rayco was a top five scorer in the tournament with a total of 112 points from 92 kills, 14 blocks and six aces. She was also a top six spiker.

The opposite spiker from Nasipit believes the best is yet to come for her and the team.

“I’m really inspired because I’m still young, yet we’ve already come this far,” Rayco said. “There’s still a higher level ahead of us, and I’m so happy that at my age, I was able to achieve this.”

Nadeth Herbon, the Alas’ other go-to scorer, won’t waste this chance.

“We’ll train harder when we get home,” Herbon said.

Middle Blocker Madele Gale also shone as No.2 in blocking with 20 kill blocks including her career-best seven in a five-set loss to Thailand in the Final Eight.

Resty Jane Olaguir and Frances Ramos were No.6 in the Best Setters and Best Diggers, respectively.

All 12 players are still eligible for next year’s World Championship as they were all born either in 2010 or 2011.

For Leyva, this historic moment was proof that the Philippines’ volleyball future is bright. It’s all about starting it as early as possible and the program’s continuity up to the higher age groups.

“We wanted this group to set the standard for our mass-based program,” he said. “With just two weeks of preparation, the team has already achieved a lot.”