CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP — Palou steers local pro volleyball league to right direction

Gone are the days when basketball was lording over other sports in the country.

Although the Philippines remains a "basketball nation," volleyball, especially the women's division, is taking the local scene by storm.

From the high school level to the collegiate contest to the commercial ranks, volleyball has found its way into the hearts of sports-crazy Filipinos.

If basketball is king, then volleyball is queen.

But this vision was seen two decades ago by a man who is greatly responsible for the rise of professional women's volleyball in the country. 

Richard William "Ricky" Palou, long-time president of Sports Vision that organizes the Premier Volleyball League, bared that the birth of the country's first and only professional women's volleyball league was conceived in a gamble that eventually paid great dividends.   

Palou, together with good friends in the late former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Emilio "Jun" Bernardino and Mauricio "Moying" Martelino, who all share basketball background, along with Tonyboy Liao, sat down to establish Sports Vision in 2004.

Their first project: Organizing yet another basketball league.             

"When Jun B (Bernardino) and I started Sports Vision, all of us had a basketball background. So our first project, obviously, was basketball. But there were already a lot of basketball leagues, the PBA, PBL, UAAP and NCAA," he told Daily Tribune in an interview.

"So we organized a high school basketball league. But after one season, we realized this won't do, no one was watching aside from the players' parents and family. We know it won't fly so we went back to the drawing board."

It was Palou who suggested that they try to dip their hands into the unchartered waters.

Skepticism filled the room.

"After retiring, I turned my focus to volleyball."

"Our first game was held at Lyceum gym."

It's just a shame that they're no longer here to see it.

"They said what should we do, we can't break into basketball? That's when I suggested volleyball because I saw its potential when I witnessed volleyball games in an inter-bank tournament," he said.

"I told them, why not try women's volleyball?"

Skepticism filled the room. What are the chances for a group of former basketball executives to emerge successful in a sport that was totally alien to them and to their target market? 

"They were hesitant. They asked: 'Why women's volleyball? No one's interested in volleyball in the Philippines because this is a basketball country," Palou said, reminding his partners about the country's successful hosting of the 2000 FIVB Grand Prix.

"I told them, no, there's interest in volleyball. Remember when teams from Brazil, Italy, Russia went here? They packed Araneta Coliseum every game."

"Actually, they weren't really that convinced but Rhea (Navarro) really pushed hard for it. After all, we already have nothing to lose. That's how we started in volleyball."

And the rest, as they say, was history.

Ball is life

But Palou isn't somebody who just came out of nowhere.

In fact, he was a varsity player of Ateneo de Manila University from grade school up to college. He even dabbled in track and field back in the day when the Blue Eagles were still competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Then, he played for San Miguel Corporation in the Manila Industrial Commercial Athletic Association — the forerunner of the Philippine Basketball Association.

"Since I was in grade school, high school and college I was a basketball player for Ateneo. After that I played for San Miguel Corporation in the MICAA, there was no PBA then yet."

While his peers Francis Arnaiz, Baby Boy Morales, Chito Afable and Joy Cleofas among others decided to move up to the new pro basketball league, Palou had to say goodbye to the sport.

"It was between going to the pros or continuing my studies and working in my day job. I chose the latter. I was already working while taking up my Masters in business administration at that time so I really had to end my basketball career," he said.

He worked as a brand manager for SMC before transferring to Far Eastern Bank where he would eventually climb the corporate ladder.

"I was a banker for 20 years, I reached the 1st Vice President position," he said.

But basketball found a way to bring him back to the sport — albeit in a different capacity.

So, I guess I was already okay with my day job. But Jun B, a very good buddy of mine, asked me to help him out in the PBA. I told him: 'Wait a minute. I'm a banker. I don't know much about running a basketball league,'" Palou recalled.

But Bernardino was persistent. 

"So I joined the PBA for its operations side and after about two or three years I joined the Technical before transferring to Finance. When he (Bernardino) retired because of health reasons, I left the PBA a year later," he said.

After his PBA stint, he returned to Ateneo, this time as athletic director, from 2004 until 2015.

"The then Ateneo president talked to me after learning that I left the PBA and asked me if I could help the Ateneo sports programs. Eventually, they appointed me as the athletic director," Palou said.

"After retiring I turned my focus to volleyball."

Money in the bank

When Sport Vision was plotting its next move after its venture in high school basketball yielded results less than its expectations, Palou brought women's volleyball to the table.

He remembered how fascinated he was with women's volleyball, witnessing its potential to capture the hearts of local fans.

And he has quite an anecdote to tell.

"When I was still a banker there was an inter-bank tournament. An employee who was a member of a volleyball team approached me and asked me if I could manage their women's volleyball team. I told them that I have no background, I don't even know the rules," he said.

"It's funny, actually, when she said, 'Sir we're not asking you to play for us. You don't even need to know the rules because all we want is a manager.' With that, I just said 'yes,'" Palou added. 

"That's when I started to appreciate volleyball. Before I had to drag myself to each practice because before I've always been a basketball guy. But when the league started, I saw how fun it was to watch. So each year, I assumed the position of manager until I transferred to the PBA."

Start of something big

Palou suffered the birth pains of the country's first commercial volleyball league — the Shakey's V-League.

Composed of six teams — three from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and three from the NCAA — the league took flight 19 years ago.

"Our first game was held at Lyceum gym. It was just a small gym. I think when we filled the venue with 80 people, it was already considered as jampacked at that time," Palou said.

"So, every game day we've noticed that people who went to watch slowly grew in size, so we booked the finals (between University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle University) at the Rizal Memorial (Coliseum). It was me, who broached the idea of holding it at the Rizal Memorial. I think we sold game tickets for about P10, if I'm not mistaken. We were really surprised that the Rizal Memorial was full up to the bleachers. It was a success and from there we thought volleyball could really be something big."

While local players showed great skills, Sports Vision thought of upping the ante by bringing in foreign guest players to add flavor.

"We got to a point that we want to bring something new to the league — get imports. We subsidized the recruitment and signing of imports. We provided Thai imports which we could afford."

Again, it was a success. New idols like Alyssa Valdez, Michele Gumabao, Jia Morado-de Guzman and Jaja Santiago have emerged while quality coaches like Roger Gorayeb, Tai Bundit and Ramil de Jesus became local heroes.

Volleyball blew up from there and even drew the attention of major network ABS-CBN to televise its own volleyball property through the UAAP.

Different companies then started pouring their support into school-based teams before eventually forming their own clubs.  

Legacy

The Covid-19 pandemic brought everything to a standstill. But it also allowed Sports Vision an opportunity to improve the PVL by turning it into a professional league.  

From six teams in 2004, the league grew to 12 clubs. From bringing in Thai imports, teams have already sought high-caliber foreign players from all over the world. Guest teams from other countries also found an avenue to showcase their skills on local soil.

Amid the volleyball fever, Palou said he was not that surprised at all of its popularity. After all, it was he at that meeting years ago who pushed for a startup volleyball league.

"It doesn't come as a surprise to me. Well, others were, especially since everybody is saying that the Philippines is a basketball country. Nobody ever would say before that volleyball would be big. Everybody's surprised with what has happened to volleyball. It grew bigger. Well, in a way we're also surprised that it turned out this big. Seeing good games, good matches and the rise of volleyball stars," Palou said.

"In basketball, fans support the team as a whole. In volleyball, fans follow players. If you have a popular and skilled player in your team for sure you'll have lots of fans."    

Looking back, Palou couldn't help but be emotional seeing the fruits of their labor.

"We started this in 2004 with Jun B and Moying. We slowly worked our way to grow the league. So, now we are enjoying the fruits of all these years of hard work. It's just a shame, they're not here to see it. At least Moying saw some of it," he said, obviously missing his good friends in Bernardino, who succumbed to a heart attack in 2007, and Martelino, who passed away in 2021 from a lingering illness.

"It could've been really good if they were here. We started this. Sayang. We miss them but what can we do? At least we can see the legacy they left behind."

At 75, the mestizo official is being considered as the captain of the ship of the country's top professional volleyball league. He, however, is already contemplating on eventually passing the torch to his sons, Jingo and Jack, who are now actively participating in running the PVL.   

"I'm not getting any younger so what we want is for the younger generation to come up and make sure to continue the volleyball programs that we have now," he said.

"But then again, it's an enjoyable retirement job. I like what I'm doing. I like the game. Every game I get to watch volleyball. So this is a great retirement job for me. It keeps me busy. At least I enjoy what I do. I remain active."

Palou promised that they will not rest on their laurels and will continue improving the PVL to create job opportunities for players, coaches, and team managers while bringing joy to countless sports fans.

And they will do it one spike at a time.