“Growing the game” is the core value of upstart league Beach Volleyball Republic.
BVR has spread their love for beach volleyball around the country through the numerous tournaments they hold in the scenic coastal regions.
Perhaps, more importantly, the ladies have also jumpstarted a “Sandroots” program, teaching kids in the areas they visit the basics of beach volleyball and hoping to spark a passion to continue to learn the sport.
Right before the BVR Invitational Finals at Anguib beach, Sta. Ana, Cagayan early Saturday morning, the league’s international stars together with the founders took part in a mini-camp for the Cagayan youth. Together, they taught 28 local youths how the basics of beach volleyball and the true essence of sports.
BVR continues to bring this vision everywhere they go. They started building courts and holding exhibition matches. Now it has become pivotal for them to interact with the locals.
“Even before when we started holding exhibition games in Manila, which were the Kings and Queens of the Sands, we already knew that we wanted to grow the game further in the Philippines,” said BVR founder Charo Soriano.
“The number one thing is to introduce the game to the public. But we realized that doing events in Metro Manila wouldn’t help as much as doing events in coastal communities. That’s when we decided to do BVR on Tour that would allow us to interact with the Coastal communities.”
BVR has toured regions around Luzon and a few places in Visayas. As their young organization builds momentum and grows, they want to reach out to more regions around the country.
“We would want to visit more of the Visayas and Mindanao regions and reach out to the kids there. Everywhere we go, we see to it that we establish a relationship with the Local Government Unit so we know where they are with beach volleyball,” Soriano expressed.
“Most of these have zero programs for beach volleyball. That made us realize that we need to push aggressively for the Sandroots which focuses on growing the game through the youth.”
Soriano cited the numerous players who started out playing on the beach but had to convert to playing indoor because they have limited avenues in beach volleyball.
“We would really provide them the opportunity as well as other kids who wind up loving the sport an avenue to get better and competitive in the support.”
Now recognized by and holding events sanctioned by Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Incorporated, BVR has found the momentum they need to keep holding events and growing the support.
