A big year for volleyball

Volleyball is one sport that made it really big in 2005 here in Cebu.

Early this year, Cebu City hosted the men's zone qualifier for the World Volleyball Championships at the University of San Carlos Gym that kicked start a really huge leap for the sport.

That event was the first international competition held in Cebu in many years and definitely did what it was expected to do - boost the interest of the people on volleyball.

Then Mandaue City hosted the Asian Youth Girls Volleyball Championships, which was the biggest international volleyball event ever held here.

Seeing the young players of China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and a few other countries was another major boost to the interest of Cebuanos on volleyball.

Then the Governor Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup opened and the whole province suddenly went volleyball crazy. Well, not all towns sadly since politics seem to have gotten into the way of the participation of some teams.

Yesterday afternoon, the championship match of the tournament was played at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex between Lapu-Lapu City and Toledo City. Since I left when the game was still on its second set and started writing this column, I don't know as of this writing, which team won the title.

However, one big winner of the GUV Cup is the sport itself. With the all-out support given by Gov. Garcia, volleyball is definitely going to get more popular in the province and obviously this will also mean the discovery of more talents, who might be material for the national team.

Gov. Gwen has already told the teams to start practicing for the next edition of the GUV Cup and the organizing Cebu Volleyball Association (CEVA) headed by my good friend Glen Anthony Soco, has received many requests to do clinics around the province.

I am hoping that next in line will be the other sports like football, which Jonathan 'Maxi' Maximo, the president of the Cebu Football Association (CebuFA) also hopes to push around the province.

I believe that can happen soon with the genuine enthusiasm I have seen in the eyes of our first lady governor everytime she goes to the games.

Another major volleyball event for 2005 was the recent Cebu Open Championships at the USC Gym featuring the best male and female teams of Cebu.

An official from Manila, who watched the championship match even thought our players here could beat the top teams in the National Capital Region (NCR) if given the proper breaks.

That is one of my wishes for 2006 and with the major surge in the popularity of volleyball, I am hopeful that there would be more corporate backers to make all of these things happen.

I have always believed in the partnership of government and the private sector to develop sports. One alone doing it can never make us realize our dreams.

I ask my fellow volleyball officials not to stop dreaming for the sport that we love. But of course, let us also bear in mind, that dreaming alone won't make things happen, we need to work.

However, with the efforts shown by the local volleyball officials for all the events in 2005, I am positive we can achieve more. Just keep on pushing and we'll get there.

A brighter 2006 awaits volleyball, thanks for all your efforts.