For most of her career, Alyssa Valdez has lived the SEA Games as a competitor — chasing medals, wearing the national colors, and carrying the weight of expectations every time she stepped on the court. In Thailand during the 2025 edition of the biennial meet, however, the Creamline star experienced the Games in a way she never had before — not as an athlete, but as a storyteller.
Valdez took on a new role as a correspondent for Cignal, the official Philippine broadcaster of the SEA Games, trading her jersey for a microphone and stepping into the unfamiliar world of live reporting. The shift, she admitted, was intimidating, even nerve-wracking, especially for someone more accustomed to being interviewed than doing the asking.
She recalled feeling an entirely different kind of pressure, particularly when covering volleyball — her comfort zone — where many of the athletes were former teammates or close friends.
Standing on the other side of the camera, navigating media scrums and post-match interviews, felt strange and at times awkward, but it also pushed her out of the bubble she had lived in as a full-time athlete.
What made the assignment even more challenging was that volleyball wasn’t her only beat. Valdez found herself covering swimming, athletics, football, futsal, and other sports she had rarely followed closely before.
Instead of focusing solely on one discipline, she was suddenly exposed to the breadth of the SEA Games — the emotions, sacrifices, and stories unfolding simultaneously across venues.
That shift, Valdez said, fundamentally changed the way she sees sports. Viewing competition through a reporter’s lens deepened her appreciation of what athletes from different disciplines endure just to represent their country.
Her experience as an athlete became her biggest advantage, shaping the way she approached interviews and conversations — not as sound-bite hunting, but as one athlete speaking to another.
One of the highlights of her coverage was interviewing close friend EJ Obiena after he successfully defended his pole vault gold medal, a moment that reinforced how personal and emotional these victories are beyond the podium finishes and headlines.
By the end of the Games, Valdez found herself more emotionally invested than ever — celebrating wins, feeling losses, and understanding the journeys of athletes she might never have watched before.
The exposure transformed her from a volleyball-first competitor into what she now calls a genuine sports fan, someone who finds meaning in the triumphs and heartbreaks across disciplines.
While the experience opened her eyes to a possible future in sports media, Valdez remains measured about what comes next. Reporting, she believes, is a different world that demands the same level of preparation, study, and commitment she has always given volleyball.
If she ever steps fully into that role again, she wants to be ready — not just to show up, but to excel.
For now, the SEA Games has added another layer to Alyssa Valdez’s evolving career — proof that even for a veteran athlete, there are still new perspectives to discover when you dare to see the game from the other side.