Today marks a new beginning for Philippine Volleyball.
As a die-hard fan of the sport, I am super thrilled about this history-making event.
Truth be told, I’ve been playing volleyball since my elementary days. This was in the ’90s. At the time, there were only two of us (my friend and I) from our street who appreciate and play the sport. All the others were crazy over basketball and boxing. I still remember the days and nights when my friend, who’s now working in the same publishing company as I am, would just dig-spike-and-toss the ball for hours, without the care in the world! We loved the sport so much that we didn’t care if we looked stupid with our straw net (yes, we just used those cheap, supermarket tali to mark the height the ball should go over). It would come to a point when our neighbor, specifically the one living at the house closest to our makeshift volleyball court would storm out of her gate and scream at us to stop!
Honestly, I didn’t expect that volleyball would reach this milestone! How many of you still remember the days when volleyball didn’t get as much media coverage as either basketball or swimming? I do. I can vividly recall in my head the nights when I would just sit in front of the TV and wait for RPN-9 to air the replays of the matches from the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, or PTV-4 to show volleyball games from the Olympics or Southeast Asian Games, or Asian Games. Oh how I stayed up all night just to see the likes of Mireya Luis of Cuba or Yelena Tyurina-Batukhtina of Russia in action!
I’m just glad volleyball is back in the spotlight. I sincerely hope that the Philippine Super Liga will inspire more youngsters to take up volleyball and love the sport as much as we, volleyball fans, do. I am sure that in three or four years, we would be seeing more Alyssa Valdezes, more Ara Galangs, more Jem Ferrers playing on the hard court.
The Super Liga will see a mix of veterans and young guns, all distributed fairly into six teams: Petron, Cignal, PLDT, Bingo Milyonaryo, Philippine Army, and Cagayan Valley.
Making their much awaited comeback on the court are former UAAP standouts Venus Bernal, Angge Tabaquero, Aiza Maizo, and Rhea Dimaculangan (UST); Michelle Datuin, Jacq Alarca, and Steph Mercado (DLSU); Maica Morada, Rosemarie Vargas, and Wenneth Eulalio (FEU); Charo Soriano and Kara Acevedo (Ateneo).
And who can forget the old-reliables, like Tina Salak, Wendy Semana, Angela Benting, Mary Jean Balse, and Mayeth and Michelle Carolino? And then we’d see two of the country’s best liberos, Jen Reyes of National University and Jheck Dionela of Perpetual who both participated in the recently concluded Southeast Asian zone qualifier for the World Volleyball Championships in Vietnam.
This league’s popularity would also rely on the star-power of these crowd-favorites: Melissa Gohing and Michelle Gumabao of DLSU, who is foregoing her last year of eligibility for UAAP Season 76; Sheila Pineda and Pau Soriano of Adamson University; and volleyball player-turned-product endorser Gretchen Ho and Fille Cainglet of the Ateneo De Manila University.
I am rooting for Team Petron, not because I am a Thomasian, but because I want to see one of my favorite players Angge Tabaquero in action again! I am also hoping that Melissa Gohing, whom I met a couple of months ago, can get back to her usual tiptop shape in no time! (I read from Noel’s article that she’s a last-minute addition to Team Petron).
Solar Sports will be covering this tournament. According to sports commentator Noel Zarate, who will also be reporting for the Superliga from the sidelines, Solar Sports will “air the opening festivities and first two encounters beginning 4:00PM while the third match will be shot but will not be shown on the same day.”
Noel also wrote in his July 7, 2013-ph.yahoo.com report that snippets of the third game will be included in “a highlight package during the next gameday—which is on Wednesday, July 10 at the San Juan Arena.”
Volleyball’s time has come. Now spike it hard!
Philippine Super Liga Opening-Day Schedule at the PhilSports Arena:
1:00PM Opening Ceremonies
2:00PM Petron vs. Cignal
4:00PM PLDT vs. Bingo Milyonaryo
6:00PM Philippine Army vs. Cagayan Valley
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