NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Romero sisters build own trail with Capital1
Sisters Milka and Mandy Romero are wearing their names like a badge of honor.
With the blood of successful basketball team owner and sportsman father Mikee Romero running on their veins, the siblings — being former athletes themselves — are now following his footsteps as owners of new Premier Volleyball League club Capital1 Solar Energy.
The Power Spikers made their formal introduction on Thursday led by head coach Roger Gorayeb, three players from their yet to be completed roster, and the Romero sisters.
Capital1 is the 12th team of the league, taking over the spot of disbanded F2 Logistics for the coming season-opening All-Filipino Conference slated to begin on 20 February.
Despite being new players in managing a professional volleyball club, the Romero sisters are confident they can take on the challenge of building their own mark as team executives just like what the Romero patriarch did.
“It’s also known that we have been in a sports family. We have been in a franchise in basketball, in volleyball as well and (even in) other Southeast Asian Games (teams) so the training that our father has given us I think is an opportunity for us to shine as the next generation that can bring our own ideas into the sport especially in women’s sports,” Milka, a former Ateneo de Manila University women’s football co-team captain, said.
“So for me, pressure is more of an opportunity for us to shine, to see what we learned but also add more or contribute, especially to volleyball,” she added.
Just like Milka, Mandy mentioned that seeing their father build a dynasty in the defunct Philippine Basketball League with seven-time champion Harbour Centre and manage a competitive Northport Batang Pier in the Philippine Basketball Association equipped them with the basics of managing a franchise.
“As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been young athletes, training all our lives. But also coming as team owners, what we learned from our father is how to be passionate team owners, how to care for the team, the players, the managers, the coaches, and especially the love for the sport and the game,” she said.
“We definitely inherited the passion for winning. We know that it will be an uphill battle but we definitely want to have our competitive spirit at the end of the day and that’s something we learned from our dad,” added the former muay thai national team member.
Capital1 tapped the multi-titled Gorayeb to handle the team as he makes his return to the league after a three-year hiatus.
Gorayeb’s last stint in the PVL was with PLDT in the 2021 Open Conference inside the Bacarra, Ilocos Norte bubble.
The Power Spikers held a two-day tryouts where Gorayeb got 23 players in his pool to be trimmed down to 20.
Veterans Heather Guino-o, Jannine Navarro and Rovie Instrella, who were present during the press conference, as well as Jorelle Singh and Aiko Urdas are the shoo-ins in the squad.