The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) is pushing through with its plans to hold a Champions League this year.
PNVF president Ramon "Tats" Suzara announced during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday that the Champions League for both men and women will take place in November, and will be followed by the National Beach Volleyball Championship in December.
"This will be the first national league by the PNVF," Suzara said of the Champions League, which was initially scheduled for September.
The Champion's League for women is now scheduled for November 13-19, with the men's competition to follow on November 20-26. The National Beach Volleyball Championship is set for the first week of December.
The plan, according to Suzara, is for provincial teams to compete in the Champions League.
"This will be the first time that a national league will really cater not only to Metro Manila, but will cater to other provinces, welcoming them to the national league for the first time," he said.
"In the women's, I think we have nine (teams) now, but we will limit only to eight. And then, 'yung men naman is about six to eight teams also that will participate. Hindi lang Metro Manila 'to, but this includes other provinces," he added. "So it's a national league talaga."
Meanwhile, the beach volleyball competition will feature 16 mens' and women's teams from all over the country, to be selected by Charo Soriano who heads the PNVF's Beach Volleyball Commission.
In doing so, Suzara hopes the level of volleyball in the provinces will also improve.
"Established na ang Metro Manila. We have to bring now these other teams in the province so they can see their level and we are helping them to improve," he said.
For their inaugural editions, the tournaments will run for only one week, Suzara said. Next year, however, they want the events to be "a little longer." This will be made possible as the PNVF wants the country's volleyball competitions to follow the FIVB calendar.
"We fixed the calendar, and next year, we will follow the FIVB calendar, we will follow the club league calendar, we will follow the national team period calendar," he said.