Beach volley makes debut in CARAA

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association meet will welcome a new event when it kicks off this Saturday  at the newly rehabilitated Baguio Athletic Bowl. 

The CARAA, which will be held for the second straight year at its new track oval here, will hold  beach volleyball for the first time.

Four of the seven local government units will send teams to the first-ever beach volleyball competitions, said Danilo Eduardo, elementary volleyball manager.

Eduardo, volleyball coach of King’s College of the Philippines in nearby La Trinidad, Benguet,  said that aside from Baguio and Benguet, Apayao will see action even as the Mountain Province has yet to finalize its participation in the first staging of the tournament which became a demonstration sport in last year’s Palarong Pambansa in Tagum, Davao del Norte.

“We are still awaiting their confirmation for participation,” said Eduardo, referring to the other province-divisions of the CARAA.

He said the Cordillera Volleyball Association, which he heads, would hold clinics on Feb. 5 in the morning. The  games start in afternoon.

This is also a welcome sport for the region, especially the city which is about 5,000 feet above sea level and nearly 40 kilometers away from the nearest beach, said CVA secretary general Danilo Cong-o.

“Add to that the first week of February is what could be the coldest with temperatures reaching 10 degrees centigrade or even lower. The temperature has actually hovered around the 10 degree area the past days,” added Cong-o, head of the center for sports development at the University of the Cordilleras.

The DepEd-Cordillera recently included the event during its meeting with event managers as construction of the court is almost completed.

The RU Aquino Construction and Development Corp. undertook the leveling of the ground and provided the riversand.