The former head coach of the national team couldn’t help but be proud over its historic achievement in the men’s volleyball competition of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Sammy Acaylar stressed that he was the happiest when the Nationals knocked the crown off Thailand’s head in a nail-biting battle that sent them to the SEA Games finals for the first time in 42 years.

Acaylar has long been bidding to see Filipino volleyball players shine in the big stage.

His first taste of international coaching action was when he assisted Emiliano Lontoc in the Manila SEA Games in 1991 and served on the same role with the women’s team when it won the gold medal in the 1993 biennial meet in Singapore.

He got the appointment again in 2016 as the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. asked him to prepare the squad for the 29th biennial meet in Kuala Lumpur.

That’s why when the Nationals finally advanced to the gold-medal match late Sunday at the Philsports Arena, Acaylar couldn’t help but to shed tears of joy over their historic feat.

“I was so happy that I almost cried watching them,” said Acaylar, one of the most decorated mentors in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

“As you know, I’ve been in volleyball for quite some time and I haven’t seen our men’s team playing in the finals of the SEA Games. This is the first time. What they achieved is something that I have been dreaming of since I started coaching.”