Beach Volleyball Republic founder Charo Soriano.
It was in June of 2015 when Charo Soriano and her friends looked at the sands as not just an alternative for indoor volleyball, and in less than three years, they have helped thrust Philippine beach volleyball into the world stage.
The Philippines is set to host the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open—a one star FIVB beach volleyball event—which would put the spotlight on the country’s sand courts and volleyball talent.
It was Beach Volleyball Republic, which is now the country’s premier beach volleyball league, that helped the sport take its act to the higher level.
But Soriano doesn’t see this as the crowning achievement but instead just the beginning of something bigger.
“This will be the start of something for everybody,” said Soriano Thursday at Coconut Club in Bonifacio Global City during the press conference for the World Tour. “We’ll work hard to make this event a sustainable program for everybody.”
BVR, which was also co-founded by Tan, Gretchen Ho, Fille Cainglet-Cayetano, Dzi Gervacio, and Alexa Micek, started as a summer league that went around different coastal provinces in the Philippines.
Soriano, though, declined to take credit for beach volleyball’s boom in the Philippines, saying that the sport already had a foothold in the past.
“I just want to stress that beach volleyball has been here for decades,” said Soriano. “There was a break when it comes to the program so we just reintroduced the sport to the public and this is a humbling experience that the local government units we’ve worked with fully embraced.”