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UAAP volleyball: Adamson's Galanza ready to share the spotlight

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/01/31/galanza-1.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>Adamson star Jema Galanza. Arvin Lim, ABS-CBN Sports</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA, Philippines – As recently as September 2017, there was no guarantee that Jema Galanza could play in the UAAP Season 80 women&#x27;s volleyball tournament.The Adamson University star suffered an extremely gruesome ankle injury during a game against De La Salle-College of St. Benilde in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference. Galanza&#x27;s right ankle bent in an unnatural way and she was rushed to a local hospital immediately. Afterward, an emotional Coach Air Padda announced that Galanza was clearly done for the PVL conference, and may have suffered a broken ankle. There were sighs of relief from volleyball fans when x-rays showed no fracture in Galanza&#x27;s ankle. Indeed, her foot was reset that same night and her road to recovery began almost immediately. Four months after the injury, Galanza is showing no signs of pain. During a recent visit to the Lady Falcons&#x27; practice at the Adamson Gym, the open spiker displayed the elevation and power that made her one of the best attackers in the UAAP. There was no grimace of pain every time she landed. Galanza also had no hesitation in diving for digs on defense, and rolling on the hard concrete court of the gym.&quot;Sabi ko sa kanila, nasa 90% pa lang ako,&quot; Galanza told reporters after practice. &quot;Actually, &#x27;yung paa ko medyo nanakit pa, pero hindi naman na &#x27;yung katulad ng dati.&quot;Mentally, she is also working past the incident. Galanza admits that she still shies away from contact sometimes, but is trying her best not to dwell on the pain.&quot;Hindi ko naman na talaga siya masyado iniisip,&quot; said Galanza. &quot;&#x27;Yun &#x27;yung pinu-push ko, para magtuloy-tuloy ang recovery.&quot;Galanza expects to be at 100% by the time the season starts – an amazing recovery considering how much pain she was in at the time of her injury. The Adamson star was nearly screaming in pain at the FilOil Flying V court, as her teammates watched, aghast, at how badly her ankle was turned.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://sports.abs-cbn.com/uaap/news/2018/01/30/kailangan-mag-level-siya-feu-coach-pascua-pons-36929">READ: Kailangan mag-level up siya -- FEU coach Pascua on Pons</a></li></ul><div>A silver lining</div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/01/31/galanza-2.jpg?ext=.jpg"/></figure></div>No one wants to see any player suffer an injury. Padda was clearly shaken by what happened to her player, especially as Galanza was performing at a tremendous level at the time of the incident. Yet the coach also believed that as awful as Galanza&#x27;s injury was, her time off the court allowed her teammates to catch up to her.&quot;When she went down, it was like Jema was up here,&quot; said Padda, raising her left hand nearly all the way up to her head. &quot;And the rest of the team was here,&quot; she added, this time putting her right hand somewhere near her neck.&quot;That is like a huge problem to solve for her because she does not have control over the team, and how fast they grow. It is like, oh my god, there&#x27;s one Jema and 10 people need to catch up to her,&quot; Padda observed.While Galanza was recovering, the rest of the Lady Falcons grew. Players like Eli Soyud and Chiara Permentilla stepped up in her absence, returning setter Fenela Emnas developed her chemistry with Adamson&#x27;s other spikers, while their top option was out of the game.Now, it&#x27;s Galanza who is trying to catch up to her teammates, said Padda. &quot;It&#x27;s such an easier problem to solve,&quot; the coach added. &quot;Jema is in control of how hard she works. Jema is in control of how much fight she gives to each play.&quot;The result is an Adamson team that is no longer reliant on Galanza. In Season 79, she was their lone star; if Galanza was stopped, the entire Adamson team was stopped. In Season 80, that is no longer the case, as there are other players who can score, and they no longer need Galanza to drop 20 points a game just to be competitive.&quot;It&#x27;s gonna be easier for her,&quot; said Padda. &quot;Her load this year isn&#x27;t gonna be as heavy.&quot;&quot;But,&quot; the coach added, &quot;I also talked to her that you&#x27;re not gonna be on the spotlight all the time, and that&#x27;s not a bad thing.&quot;Padda pointed out that Galanza has been &quot;the face&quot; of Adamson&#x27;s volleyball program for the past couple of years, certainly since the graduation of players like Bang Pineda and Amanda Villanueva. But the coach has made it clear to Galanza that she should be pleased with this new development.&quot;If it means you are not on the spotlight every game but you finally make it to the Final 4, are you kidding me? I don’t even want it. I want to get to the Final 4. And so, that’s gonna be her challenge this year,&quot; said Padda.Galanza has been &quot;super receptive&quot; to this challenge, said the coach. &quot;She wants everyone to shine. She doesn’t want to leave Adamson without something. She gives so much, she really does. And so she knows this year is her shot,&quot; said Padda. Indeed, Galanza seemed unconcerned at the thought of losing the lion&#x27;s share of the spotlight. She shrugged off the possibility of being a candidate for Most Valuable Player honors. All she wanted was to bring the Lady Falcons back to the Final 4 – a stage they haven&#x27;t reached in three seasons.&quot;Nakaka-pressure,&quot; she admits. &quot;Ngayon ko lang naramdaman ulit &#x27;yung ganoong expectations. Pero hindi naman siya negative na pressure.&quot;(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website.</a>)

As recently as September 2017, there was no guarantee that Jema Galanza could play in the UAAP Season 80 women's volleyball tournament.

As recently as September 2017, there was no guarantee that Jema Galanza could play in the UAAP Season 80 women's volleyball tournament.

UAAP volleyball: Adamson's Galanza ready to share the spotlight

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UAAP volleyball: Adamson's Galanza ready to share the spotlight

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published January 31, 2018 06:35 PM PHT

Read More:

uaap

uaap season 80

uaap volleyball

adamson lady falcons

jema galanza

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