GUV Cup draws huge turnout of entries

CEBU, Philippines - A total of 42 cities and municipalities have already confirmed their participation during the general assembly of the 6th Governor Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup for men and women yesterday at the Summit Hall of Cebu International Convention Center.

Governor Garcia was very glad with the vast participation of teams in both categories considering the deadline for the official line up is still on September 6.

“We already have good participation considering of the date of the deadline. I commend all the mayors and city officials for actively participating by sending,” Garcia said.

“It’s not about our personal comfort being public officials. It’s a challenge for us, especially the youth to participate in the biggest volleyball event the country. To increase the level of their game and more importantly the chance to be with other players to compete in the spirit of friendly competition,” Garcia added.

According to Garcia with the youth joining to sports is a way to fight the proliferation of drugs. It develops the culture of self-discipline, teamwork and camaraderie. At the same time, it develops the youth to be responsible, law-abiding and productive citizen in each municipality.

With the addition of two imports or reinforcement for each team, Garcia believed that it’s time to take volleyball to step further.

“We expect higher level of competition and encourage each city and municipality to continually push that standard, challenging them to level-up with the addition of imports. I’m not only focusing to the tournament but to the players. Because this would only prove that as Cebuanos we continue to excel,” she said.

Cebu Volleyball Association (CEVA) president Jun San Juan said that this is a fresh start to do well and making the tournament more exciting with the reinforcement. Though he said, that it’s the option of the teams to have their import depending on the budget intended for the tournament.

So far, San Juan said that all the teams who did not show up yesterday give their positive response in their participation for the annual volleyball competition.

The new extensive grassroots level volleyball program was formally launched yesterday as proposed by Garcia. She wanted to discover younger generation of volleyball players and to create a process for the establishment of volleyball organization per municipality with the involvement of barangays.

These organizations will be under the umbrella of the highest volleyball governing body of the province, Cebu Volleyball Association (CEVA) and under the supervision of the GUV Cup. They established a special team who will conduct the grassroots program in a weekly basis since this will be done in the different clusters of the GUV Cup.

The program is open to all barangay sports coordinators, Sangguniang Kabataan and municipal sports councils, DepEd physical education teachers and coaches in the municipality where the program is conducted.

The GUV Cup will have its historic grand opening on September 25 at Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex, as they will be searching for supremacy for the battle of the champions.

It will be dubbed as “Who will reign supreme, the cities or the municipalities?” as last year’s champions in the cities and municipalities will clash.

The men’s bracket will feature the battle between Liloan and Mandaue City. In the distaff side, Catmon squares off with Talisay City.

GUV Cup executive director Nona Catipay said that this would already be the trend for GUV Cup in the next years, to feature the champions for the city and the municipality. (FREEMAN)