Volleyball unity on the horizon, says POC

THE BIG four of Philippine volleyball is close to banding together and uniting the strife-torn sport.

Philippine Olympic Committee vice president Joey Romasanta yesterday said collegiate leagues UAAP and NCAA are about to sign a memorandum of agreement supporting the POC-led panel created to oversee the sport’s affairs.

Semiprofessional leagues Philippine Super Liga and Shakeys V-League have already pledged to support the committee.

Romasanta, also president of the Philippine Karatedo Federation, said they will conduct tryouts for the national under-23 team in January. The team will see action in the Asian women’s under-23 tournament which the country will host in May.

The POC has tapped former Ateneo coach Roger Gorayeb and beach volley mentor Eric Lecain to hold the tryouts.

Romasanta said he is confident the players will show up in the tryouts.

Certain top players were earlier invited to the tryouts but they begged off because they were part of a faction in the Philippine Volleyball Federation that formed the men’s and women’s squads last August through the help of PLDT.

But the POC executive expressed confidence that the players will eventually understand the situation once the issues are explained to them.

Volleyball is the only remaining sport that has yet to submit entries to the Singapore Southeast Asian Games in June, according to Team Philippines chief of mission Julian Camacho.

The SEA Games organizers have already moved the deadline for the submission of entries from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21.