Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
For the past three years, Charo Soriano and Bea Tan have been the ambassadors of beach volleyball in the Philippines promoting the sport with Beach Volleyball Republic through tours and tournaments in the coastal towns outside of Metro Manila.
So when the duo spearheaded the Philippines’ hosting of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open, they can’t help but get a feeling that such a large-scale event could potentially lead to a massive promotion for the sport.
Soriano, one of the founders of BVR, said the influx of beach volleyball athletes to the Philippines could lead to the further interest to the sport just like when the likes of Leila Barros came to the Philippines in 2000 for the FIVB World Grand Prix.
“I remember many years ago when I was younger, there was a Grand Prix held in Manila for indoor volleyball and by that time a lot of people my age wanted to play volleyball,” said Soriano Friday at SM Sands by the Bay.
“That time there was a spark in terms of the interest of the young people wanting to play indoor volleyball and we hope these types of international events will bring some motivation and inspiration to the younger generation as well to play beach volleyball,” added Soriano.
Soriano and Tan, who is also a co-founder of BVR, didn’t last long in the Manila Open after losing their two games in the group stage but the more important thing for them is pushing the beach volleyball envelope towards the people’s consciousness.
Tan said the mere fact that the other Philippine representatives Cherry Rondina and Dzi Gervacio were able to beat the United States’ Lindsey Fuller and Kaley Melville 21-12, 21-16 is enough inspiration for them to continue pushing for the growth of beach volleyball in the country.
“We get inspired when we see things like this happening when a Philippine team beat a US team that’s a really good push for us,” said Tan. “We want to grow beach volleyball here in the Philippines and this is growing now.”