Nurture it, they will come

THE SHAKEY’S V-League celebrates its 10th season this year, marking a decade of patiently supporting volleyball when nobody but its own small community was into the game at the start and seeing the fruits of its labors in the sport’s current popularity.

At the end of  each playdate this week, popular players were surrounded by fans of all ages looking for autographs and photo ops. This kind of hoopla was once reserved for male basketball players and Manny Pacquiao.

But now Alyssa Valdez, Fille Cainglet, Rachel Anne Dacquis, Suzanne Roces, Mary Jean Balce, Nene Bautista and many others are in the limelight with volleyball’s onslaught on the public consciousness.

Sports Vision, the Shakey’s V-League organizers, produced a commemorative coffee table book to mark the milestone. The work carefully reviews each of the nine previous seasons, illustrating through text and vibrant pictures the journey the league, and in effect, volleyball, took.

The book likewise shows that it was neither the league nor the collegiate tournaments on their own that were responsible for the current craze but rather that both had converged to give us what we have today.

Aside from the support provided by Sports Vision’s V-League and the collegiate leagues, the players did so much to boost their sport aside from playing.

The players and their predominantly young fans found common grounds in social media. They engaged the communication tools of their generation, exchanging tweets and Facebook entries.

The volleyball players knew how to use these platforms. Many teams maintain their own Facebook pages, complete with news, photos and lively chats with fans.

The live  streaming capability of the Internet kept fans in touch as well. Even if fans were far from a TV set, games could still be viewed by groups in school cafeterias or by individuals with the help of earphones in places like a library or a coffee shop.

Traditional media played a role as well. Print was more than generous in providing space so that the league could grow. Fans loved following the games through the streams or on TV and would read the newspapers the next day for a more deliberate analysis of game results.

Television has definitely played a part. The Shakey’s V-League games will now be viewed on GMA News TV, Mondays to Saturdays, after their Balitanghali midday news recap. The game is as TV-friendly as ever with the rally-point scoring system where every unreturned offensive salvo or error results in points.

This is a departure from the side-out rule before where a side had to have the serve to score. If the game was still played with that rule, no TV station would give the airtime because matches could go on interminably.

The now-abused line from the sports movie Field of Dreams “build it and they will come” seems fitting for the Shakey’s V-League’s anniversary. Maybe the line could be tweaked a tad for the league’s journey: Build it, nurture it and they will come.