Shakey’s V-League Open conference starts tomorrow

THE SHAKEY’S V-League is bound to change as it takes a step towards becoming a commercial league with the Open conference starting off this Sunday with four non-school teams joining three regular member schools in what promises to be a blockbuster offering by the country’s premier women’s volley league at The Arena in San Juan.

In their continuing effort to bring the sport to a higher level, organizers are putting up a tournament that will not only continue to showcase the leading volley schools’ prowess but also those from three “military” teams and a commercial squad.

The Army, Air Force and Navy along with Maynilad are joining 2011 first conference champion Ateneo, former titlist San Sebastian College and University of Perpetual Help Dalta System in this pilot project aimed at further raising the level of women’s volleyball following the successful staging of the school-oriented tournaments the last eight years.

Some schools are opting to take a one-conference leave to give their respective players time to concentrate on their studies, thus paving the way for the three military teams and Maynilad to in the Open tournament.

To level the playing field and make the games more exciting, the three school teams are allowed to tap non-student or two foreign players as reinforcements. Correspondent Jonas Panerio