Ex-Ateneo stars start beach tourney
FOR THESE stars, volleyball extends beyond the court.
Former Ateneo teammates Charo Soriano, Bea Tan and Dzi Gervacio have banded to form the Beach Volleyball Republic which will stage its culminating tournament on May 26 and 27 at SM Mall of Asia Sands.
The tournament has been to Boracay, La Union, Negros Occidental and Cagayan, among others.
“We are risk-takers ourselves,” said Tan, who talked of their mission to promote beach volleyball in the country.
Together, they launched the BVR Spike on Tour national finals at Cafe Lola in Quezon City yesterday. They also made the draw for all 16 teams seeing action in the meet.
Soriano said they wish to tap young players, especially those living near beaches.
“As we do this, we come closer to our mission which is to help beach volleyball grow,” added Soriano.
The meet, which will reward the winner P100,000, will be carried by TV network giant ABS-CBN through its Sports+Action network.
“The people have been very receptive in every region we went to,” said Soriano. “And the support of volleyball community has been manifested by the amount of message the BVR gets.”
Long-time beach volleyball patron Tony Boy Liao will serve as tournament director.
