PVL: Randy Fallorina braces for ‘big challenge’ ahead as Army coach

MANILA, Philippines – Randy Fallorina is the first head coach of the 2023 Premier Volleyball League season, replacing KungFu Reyes at the helm of the Army Lady Troopers.

Reyes, who has coached the Lady Troopers since 2015, will retire as an Army personnel while his deputy Rico De Guzman is also no longer with the team and leaves the responsibility to Fallorina.

“This is my first time coaching in the big leagues because before I only called teams in inter-company tournaments,” the new coach told Inquirer Sports in Filipino.

“It will be a big challenge for me as a first player. But I keep telling my players to keep working hard and stay focused in training, especially now that we lost a lot of players like Jovelyn Gonzaga, who will be playing in the SEA Games. The younger players have to step up and so far they have adapted well,” he said.

Before making his coaching debut in the All-Filipino Conference on February 4, let’s get to know the former army hitter, who played for the Turf Spikers last year and worked as a trainer for the Lady Troopers in the PVL.

Fallorina, who hails from Montalban, Rizal, played for Far Eastern University under legendary coach Kid Santos from 1998-2001, winning four UAAP championships.

Interestingly, the Tamaraws’ former opposing spiker is a friend of Cignal coach Shaq Delos Santos, who will be competing in the PVL.

Fallorina, who enlisted in 2008, is now a Sgt. He played in several tournaments with the Troopers and also saw action in the beach volleyball tournament.

Fallorina, 44, will still be Melvin Carolino’s assistant on the Turf Spikers coming into this weekend. He practices with the women’s team in the morning and goes straight to the men’s squad in the afternoon.

As a PVL coach for the first time, Fallorina admits that he was a bit confused when he faced the top coaches in the country such as Creamline’s two-time champion coach Sherwin Meneses, Brazilian tactician Jorge Edson Souza de Brito from Akari, new PLDT coach Rald Ricafort, Oliver Almadro from Petro Gazz , Dante Alinsunurin of Choco Mucho, and others.

“All PVL coaches have experience, which is still lacking. But I brought experience with FEU when I was still playing in the UAAP. This is what I told the players in the Army, all the learning and experience,” he said.

Army is looking to rise from the ashes after a winless Reinforced Conference campaign last year. But the bigger challenge in Fallorina’s first mission is leading a rebuilding team, which will be without Gonzaga and injured players Ging Balse-Pabayo and Jem Gutierrez.

It will be a tall order for the Lady Troopers but Fallorina believes that his holdovers, led by Honey Royse Tubino and Jeanette Villareal, will step up and fight out, in the middle of the recruitment coup of the opposing team.

“I think the team that has been around for a long time is the best weapon we have [for the PVL],” said Fallorina. “It will be an experience to use. But you can be sure that we will fight every game.

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