MANILA – Playing for the national women’s volleyball team might not be part of Filipina-American spiker Kalei Mau’s to-do list.
Mau in a recent interview with the Athletes’ Tribune interview revealed she is not planning to give up her United States Volleyball Association (USVA) membership and will even try her luck to play in a women’s professional league in the US next year.
“There are a lot of options to weigh. There’s actually a professional volleyball league starting up in the US next year, I think,” Mau said. “Hopefully, that would go well. It would be such a great opportunity if that takes off and I am still a US volleyball player.”
“That’s such a great option and it also goes along with the citizenship. Like, being a US citizen gives you so many avenues. It gives you a lot of opportunities,” she added.
The 25-year-old volleybelle explained that her USVA membership was the reason why she was ruled ineligible to wear the Philippines’s colors in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
According to her, she was informed days before the biennial meet that she has to switch membership and serve a two-year residency in the country to get the green light to play for the national team.
“I was treated as a foreign player when I played in other countries before going here,” said Mau. “But since my mother is a Filipino, I was treated as a local player here despite being a member of the USVA.”
“There’s some other things that I need to focus on like winning the (Philippine Superliga) Grand Prix with F2 (Logistics Cargo Movers) and the other championships. But I’ll let you guys know if (playing for) the Philippines is back in my bread basket,” she added./PN
