Last June 20, 2015, the Beach Royals Philippines group launched the first ever “Queen of the Sands” Beach Volleyball Tournament in partnership with SM Sands by the Bay.
The one-day competition featured 10 semi-professional volleyball players in the Philippines and boasted a unique competition format that is popular in the United States. Instead of the traditional 2-on-2 battles where players have a set partner for all of the games, the format of Queen of the Sands made sure that everybody got to play with, as well as against, everybody else competing. The mix of partners and match-ups allowed everyone to build a sense of camaraderie with each other and tested their individual skills based on the ability to adjust to unique situations on the court.
Each player had the chance to play 8-9 sets and win as much as 21 points per set, depending on the amount she scored with her partner. At the end of the eliminations, the top 4 with the highest scores got into the Finals and battled for the title. Fiola Mae Caballos of Central Philippine University emerged as the first ever “Queen” of the Sands.
Following the success of the tournament, another leg is going to be held this July 11, 2015, entitled “King and Queen of the Sands” featuring 8 male and 8 female beach volleyball players.
The difference of this leg from the first one is that the match-ups will now be mixed: 1 male and 1 female per team. The same format as Queen of the Sands applies. The top-scoring male and female will be crowned as King and Queen of the Sands, respectively. The goal of the tournament is to introduce and promote volleyball as a fun sport, to provide an avenue for players to regularly compete, and to develop the level of play of beach volleyball in the Philippines.
Gretchen Ho, one of the pioneers of the tournament, shared her group’s ideals and desire to help promote the sport. She will also be participating in the tournament.
“As athletes of the sport, we thought of creating this tournament to establish some regular activities for beach volleyball, something that has been missing for the past years. We also hope to grow our community of beach volleyball players in the process and be able to spread our love for the sport all over the country.”
Battling it out for the title of “King of the Sands” will be:
AJ Pareja
Rocky Honrade
Jade Becaldo
Hack Gilbuena
Jeriel Apelar
JP Pareja
Kris Roy Guzman
Tim Young
While the title of “Queen of the Sands” will be disputed by:
Fiola Ceballos
Patty Orendain
Bea Tan
Gretchen Ho
Charo Soriano
Michelle Morente
Alexa Micek
Kayla Williams
The tournament will be held on July 11, 2015, at SM Sands By The Bay, Roxas Boulevard, Manila, and will start at 9:00am and end at 10:00pm.
