Marnelli "Let" Salvador Dimzon (born November 22, 1979) is a Filipina football coach and former player. She is currently the head coach of Kaya Women's. She is also an assistant coach of the Philippine women's national team and had served as their head coach on two stints. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, Dimzon played in the collegiate level for the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraw Booters with whom she won back-to-back UAAP titles: in season 63 (2000–01), in which she was the most valuable player (MVP), and in season 64 (2001–02). Internationally, she played for the Philippine women's national team in the 2003 AFC Women's Championship and four

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

from 2001 to 2007. Becoming head coach of the FEU Lady Tamaraw Booters in 2010, she led them to the

UAAP Season 73 UAAP Season 73 is the 2010–2011 athletic year of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. It was hosted by De La Salle University. The men's basketball and the women's volleyball tournaments were aired by ABS-CBN Channel 2 and Stu ...

(2010–11) title and the

three-peat In North American sports, a three-peat is winning three consecutive championships. The term, a portmanteau of the words ''three'' and ''repeat'', originated with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, during their unsuccess ...

in seasons 75 (2012–13) through 77 (2014–15). She had also served as head coach of the Philippine women's national team in the youth and senior levels. In 2019, she also became head coach of Kaya Women's.

Early and personal life

Marnelli "Letlet" Salvador was born on November 22, 1979 in

Valenzuela, Metro Manila Valenzuela (, Tagalog: ), officially the City of Valenzuela ( fil, Lungsod ng Valenzuela), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 714,978 people ...

. Her father was a

tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...

driver while her mother was a food vendor. She was a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete from grade school until her freshman year at Far Eastern University in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. She married fellow footballer Jimmy Dimzon in 2004; they have one daughter.

Playing career

College

In 1998, when she was a sophomore at Far Eastern University (FEU), she joined the FEU Lady Tamaraw Booters of the

University Athletic Association of the Philippines The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univers ...

(UAAP). In the

UAAP Season 63 UAAP Season 63 is the 2000–01 athletic year of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, which was hosted by the University of Santo Tomas. The season opened on July 15, 2000, at the Araneta Coliseum. It was the Studio 23's first b ...

(2000–01) finals series, FEU defeated the De La Salle Lady Booters who were favorites to win after sweeping the elimination round. Salvador was awarded the most valuable player (MVP) award for her performance. In the following season, she contributed to FEU's title defense, where they again faced De La Salle in the final. In 2002, she dropped out from FEU after failing a math course. She then decided to go into coaching. Nine years later, in 2011, she decided to return to college and earned her financial management degree in 2013.

International

Dimzon was part of the

Philippines women's national football team The Philippines women's national football team represents the Philippines in international women's football. It is managed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the country. The women's national foot ...

and played as early as 1980s when the team was still coached by Orlando Plagata. She took part in the 2003 AFC Women's Championship. She was part of the squad that played 4 times at the

in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. She was part of the national team until 2008. Dimzon was also part of the Irok Women's futsal team under head coach Emmanuel Batungbacal. In 2017, she attended a coaching seminar dedicated for women coaches in China.

Style of play

Marielle Benitez, Dimzon's national team teammate and former collegiate rival, described her as a "fast player who could play in the center or on the wings. She could deliver crosses accurately ndshe was also one of the best headers."

Coaching career

Her coaching career began when she was still a college student. She needed a part-time job due to her parents' having difficulties to provide her financial needs during college. Sometime after putting her collegiate studies on hold in 2002, then women's national team head coach

Marlon Maro Marlon Maro (born June 21, 1965) is a Filipino football coach and former international football player. He was the head coach of the Philippines women's national football team in 2021. Club career Maro played as a player for Philippine Navy. ...

offered her coaching assignments in the grassroots level. After her five-year stint with the national team, Dimzon decided to fully pursue her coaching career. In 2014, Dimzon accomplished and bested an international coaching course by the

German Football Federation The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge o ...

which was attended by 29 participants.

FEU Lady Booters

Dimzon later served as assistant coach for the

FEU Lady Booters The FEU Lady Tamaraw Booters are the varsity women's football team of the Far Eastern University. They compete at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), as well as at the PFF Women's League, the top flight domestic women's ...

under Malou Rubio from 2005 to 2009 and Kim Chul-soo in 2009. She was appointed as head coach of the FEU women's team in 2010. Under her watch FEU won three consecutive titles ( UAAP Seasons 75, 76, and 77) They also won in

Philippines girls youth

Dimzon led the girl's under-14 national team to the finals of the AFC U-14 Girls ASEAN Regional Championship. They ended up as runners-up of the tournament with Thailand beating them in the finals. The feat was the best performance of their age group. She coached the under-16 team which participated at the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualifiers.

Philippines senior women

In July 2017 it was reported that Dimzon was appointed as head coach of the Philippines women's senior team and is tasked to mentor the team at the

2017 Southeast Asian Games Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

which is to take place the next month. She was formally succeeded by English coach, Richard Boon in November 2017. Dimzon was appointed back into the post on August 23, 2018, standing in for Buda Bautista who declined from resuming her post due to scheduling conflict. Dimzon was appointed with the condition that the

Rizal Memorial Stadium The Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium (simply known as the Rizal Memorial Stadium; officially the Simeon Toribio Track Stadium) is the main stadium of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, Philippines. It served as the main stad ...

made available for training use by the national team to help her deal with her commitments with the Far Easter University and other clubs. For her second senior national team stint, Dimzon will lead the Philippines in the 2020 Summer Olympics qualifiers. In 2022, she was appointed as assistant coach.

Kaya Women

In July 2019, Dimzon was announced as head coach of

Kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) *Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...

. She led them to a sweep of the 2022 SingaCup's Women Football Championship—their first eleven-a-side campaign, as well as their international debut.

Honors

Player

;FEU Lady Booters * UAAP: Champions

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2001, 2002; third place:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Coach

;FEU Lady Booters *

PFF Women's Cup The PFF Women's Cup is the national women's football cup of the Philippines organized by the Philippine Football Federation. History The inaugural edition was launched in 2014 by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and was contested by 10 ...

*: Champions 2015 * UAAP: Champions 2007, 2011,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and 2015 ;Philippines U14 *AFC U-14 Girls ASEAN Regional Championship: Runner-up 2014 ;Kaya *SingaCup's Women Football Championship: 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimzon, Let 1979 births Living people Filipino women's footballers Philippines women's international footballers Far Eastern University alumni Female association football managers Filipino football managers Footballers from Metro Manila People from Valenzuela, Metro Manila Philippines women's national football team managers Women's association football midfielders Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games SEA Games competitors for the Philippines