Recently a so called Super Liga in volleyball was inaugurated in Manila.
It came after the successful UAAP and Shakey’s Volleyball tournaments, which attracted thousands, a first time phenomenon. What happened to that tournament has become a little hazy because its schedules and results no longer appear in the daily papers.
Might as well.
The promoters or organizers of the Super Liga seem to know very little about volleyball.
First, in the Philippines, volleyball is for the young, just like swimming.
Due to the absence of post collegiate tournaments, the most that outstanding volleyball players can hope for is a slot in one of the Armed Forces Teams, which still conducts inter-service tournaments.
Those who don’t, end up flat and flabby, even if they stay unmarried, for lack of the heavy practice and workouts that they were used to in college. Even those who are taken in by a military service team, also deteriorate, probably because the level of competition is lower.
The UAAP and the Shakey’s V League were successful because of the varsity rivalries.
If there is a successful Super Liga, it must involve the varsity teams and should be held in the off season of the UAAP and the NCAA.
Another reason why the Super Liga was a misnomer was the exclusion of the volleyball teams in the identified centers of the sport such as Bacolod, Cebu and Davao.
How can a tournament claim to be a super league when it is confined to players in Metro Manila only?
How can players and teams from Cebu be excluded when both the Men’s and Women’s Teams that represented the Philippines in a recent Southeast Asian Beach Volleyball Tournament were all Cebuanos?
If these players can excel in beach volleyball, then there must be something good going on in the sport in Cebu.
And indeed there has been—a lot.
For the last six (6) years, no other place in the Philippines has the sport of volleyball been vibrant, sometimes surpassing basketball in popularity.
The same things may have been happening in Bacolod, as excellent players have been produced in that area on a regular basis.
If the intention of the Super Liga was to give volleyball players a life after their varsity stints, it was a very worthwhile effort. A project of such magnitude should be well thought of so that it can succeed.
However, if the intention was just to ride on the sudden popularity of the sport, then it was doomed to fail for the reasons already expressed.
P.S.
Cebu volleyball may have suffered a big setback with the discontinuance of the Governor’s Cup Volleyball Tournament sponsored by the provincial government, due to financial constraints.
There are other ways to keep the program alive, something which needs the sense of purpose, commitment, ingenuity and hardwork by those who profess love for volleyball.
The provincial government’s sponsorship of the province-wide volleyball development program, made it easy to do. Now, the real hard work begins so that those who work will earn real and genuine laurels for their efforts.