“I didn’t come to make more finals, I came to be champion”, Cenaida Uribe and the story of how she changed Alianza to win the Volleyball League

And although we know in detail the faces that make up this team – from captain Esmeralda Sánchez to the last to arrive, Marina Brambilla -, at her side is the brain of Cenaida Uribe. She arrived at the end of 2022 to, as the players themselves say, “impose their competitiveness” and organize the ideas they had a little. And she did it with the pressure of seeking the title. It was that or nothing.

“When I arrived they had already done two finals and what was left for me? I wasn’t coming to make more finals, I was coming to be a champion. Unfortunately we came second again, but now it’s our turn,” Cenaida tells us, who for the last season brought Clarivett Yllescas and Maeva Orlé from France, the latter who finished as MVP of the league.

When Cenaida was triumphing at San Martín, in the last decade, Alianza was not yet fully committed to volleyball. “Now it is different and it has been a general restructuring,” he tells us and tells us that his contribution is not only in working with the first team, but in working at the base of the discipline. “It’s from the base. We have little girls from 9, 10, 11 up to 15 years old working. We have 250 girls training every week. Also in academic matters, this year we have had almost 400 girls,” he tells us.

And that is the other step that Alianza is taking, in which its bases feed the first team, as it has done with Esmeralda Sánchez and Esmeralda Loroña, who have been at the club for more than ten years. And so they hope to add more names to the list.

-The rules-

With the experience of having been a notable volleyball player—a silver medal in Seoul 88 and a decade playing in Italy—Cenaida knew how to understand what the team needed. “I put pressure by giving them what they need: nutrition, psychologist, everything. Being a little harsh. They wanted to go to the stadium to see the soccer team, I didn’t say no. ‘That ends at 11 and you play tomorrow. There is no stadium,’ she told them. And she understood it,” she tells us.

And so there were several rules that were put into practice so that the team was aligned: no tardiness, no fouls, no use of cell phones and discipline. “We have made them aware of the responsibility they have,” says Cenaida.

It is not easy to get a team to come together, but Alianza did it to be able to move the project forward. “The team learned to coexist and each one understood what the other is like and there are three captains where each one is responsible for everything,” he tells us about the work of Esmeralda, Marina and Chavelita.

Thus, Alianza managed to break a 31-year wait and lift the title for the first time in the league format (since 2002). And now they aim for more although they know that the challenge is great. “There will surely be more expectations and it is not only for the local tournament, but also the international one.” And precisely, next year they have to compete in the South American Club Championship. “We have to strengthen the team because we are sure to improve what we can – in reference to the last third places in Regattas – but we have to take into account the level of Brazil,” he says.

Cenaida is already working on that, but for now the entire blue and white town is celebrating. And they have it well deserved.