Filipinas on the rise

The Filipinas are pumping life into Philippine sports.

In the previous Summer Games in Tokyo, a female weightlifter, Hidilyn Diaz, made history when she clinched the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal.

Prior to her conquest, golfer Yuka Saso emerged as the first Filipina to win the US Open. Although Saso eventually acquired Japanese citizenship, the fact remains that she’s a Filipina, as she was born to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father in San Ildefonso, Bulacan.

The national women’s football team also made a huge splash. Aptly called “Filipinas,” the national booters shocked the world when they booked a historic 1-0 win over host New Zealand in the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year.

This year, a score of Filipina athletes is set to make the country proud in the Paris Olympics.

Boxers Nesthy Petecio and Airah Villegas will see action, as well as rower Joanie Delgaco, gymnasts Aleah Finnegan and Levi Ruivivar, and weightlifters Elreen Ando and Vanessa Sarno.

So, of the 11 Olympic qualifiers for TeamPhilippines so far, seven of them are female, proving that the Filipinas are truly on the rise.

The same thing is happening in professional sports.

The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is doing very well compared to the Philippine Basketball Association.

PVL venues have been packed to the rafters, while the PBA is obviously struggling with many empty seats despite its decision to play in smaller venues with high foot traffic.

Compared to the PBA, which was established in 1975, the PVL is relatively new.

It was founded in 2004 by the same people who used to manage the PBA — the late former commissioner Emilio “Jun” Bernardino, Mauricio “Moying” Martelino, and Richard Palou.

The PVL, then known as Shakey’s V-League, featured collegiate teams and held its games at the Lyceum of the Philippines University gym in Intramuros.

Eventually, the league added flavor by inviting veteran players to serve as “imports.” It even assembled a squad featuring the core of the national women’s team that won the gold medal in the 1993 Southeast Asian Games.

Despite various challenges, the PVL soldiered on.

They innovated by hiring imports from Thailand, whose contracts were way cheaper than those from the United States and Europe. Then, they opened their doors to club teams, paving the way for collegiate students to earn while receiving sufficient training.

With Shakey’s V-League getting a strong challenge from the fledgling Philippine Superliga, the organizers decided to go full blast by rebranding it as the PVL. It wasn’t an easy decision, but they were confident of garnering support from new sponsors and broadcast partners.

During the pandemic, the PVL was among the leagues that shuttered their operations. However, when the Inter-Agency Task Force announced that professional leagues would be allowed to operate under a bubble format, the league jumped in and secured a professional license from the Games and Amusement Board.

Now, the PVL is the most successful professional league in the country, with fans screaming their hearts out and cheering for their volleyball heroes — both at the venues and on social media. The league that had a humble beginning in the small Lyceum gym can now fill the 20,000-seat Mall of Asia Arena and Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Compared to the PBA, the PVL provides an electric, competitive atmosphere even though its All-Filipino Conference is still in the eliminations.

But the PVL became successful not because of fans seeing it as a good alternative to the PBA or its ability to quickly adapt to the unpredictable sports landscape.

It became successful because it features Filipina athletes and celebrates their power and beauty. How many times have we seen little girls saving their allowance just to buy PVL tickets so they could watch Alyssa Valdez or Mika Reyes in action? Or parents patiently lining up to buy PVL merchandise to give their daughters as pasalubong after a long day at work?

The PVL’s success means that Filipina athletes are now the toast of Philippine sports. As they compete in the Paris Olympics, let’s say a little prayer for their success, just as we did when Hidilyn Diaz shone like a precious gem in Tokyo.