By: Emme Rose Santiagudo
Top commercial volleyball teams Creamline Cool Smashers and BanKo Perlas Spikers will hype up Ilonggo fans in an out-of-town game of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) at the University of San Agustin gym in Iloilo City on June 15, 2019.
Rodolfo Villaruz, organizer of the event, said volleyball superstars Michelle Gumabao, Nicole Tiamzon, and Alyssa Valdez will banner the two teams apart from their respective international players.
According to Villaruz, it is the first that time Iloilo City will be hosting a PVL game.
“This is the first time that Iloilo nag-host sang ini nga out-of-town game. Since 2016, on my part, we are bringing the national athletes here. Moreover, the sports program of the city government encouraged the PVL nga mapili sang Iloilo City to be the host,” he said.
Before the game, Moises Salomon Jr., head of the Iloilo City Sports and Development Division said 100 public elementary and secondary students in Iloilo City will be given the chance to meet the volleyball superstars and their coaches and join a two-day volleyball clinic.
“We will have a volleyball clinic where we chose 100 public elementary and high school students to meet the national teams and their coaches. The two-day volleyball clinic will be on June 12 and June 14, 2019 at South Fundidor Gym in Molo and Puerto Real in La Paz, Iloilo City,” he said.
The students will come from Arroyo Elementary School, La Paz 1 Elementary School, Mandurriao Elementary School, Iloilo City National High School, and Santo Niño Sur Elementary School while others will be Palarong Pambansa athletes.
As volleyball games continue to gain popularity in the Philippines, Salomon said that Iloilo City has a lot of potential talents to offer.
However, he emphasized that the athletes lack tournament experience that would help in their skills development.
“Damo ang talents diri sa Iloilo especially sa volleyball but just like basketball kulang lang gid ta sa mga tournaments which is needed tani para continuous ang development sang mga bata,” he stressed.
Through the years, Salomon said that the city government has been maximizing their efforts to expose the budding Ilonggo volleyball athletes.
“We have this Iloilo City Developmental League and we are doing it twice a year. If you are a public school student, isa lang gid exposure mo and that is sa city meet. That’s why we are doing lots of program para ma-expose ang mga bata,” he said.
The tickets for the game, which starts 4 p.m., are priced at P1,000 and P350 and are available at the Iloilo City Sports and Development Division, 5th floor of the Iloilo City Hall. Tickets are also on sale at Army-Navy store, Central Market, City Proper.
Organizers are still contemplating on offering free general admission tickets to the public.
