Volleyball over basketball?

The leadership of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) must have been dreaming when it said volleyball has overtaken basketball as the No. 1 sport in the country.

It’s a claim that is quite insulting to basketball-crazy Filipinos.

Sure, volleyball has made a show of force in the past couple of weeks.

In fact, the Premier Volleyball League and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines have rocked two of the largest competition venues in the country — Smart Araneta Coliseum and the Mall of Asia Arena — with thousands of fans screaming their hearts out one spike at a time.

Last Thursday, volleyball displayed its prowess once more as it attracted 4,495 fans to watch Alas Pilipinas battle Australia in the preliminaries of the AFC Challenge Cup at the 6,000-seat Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

This was followed by another capacity crowd when the Philippines confronted India in its second match at the same venue on Friday night.

On the contrary, the Philippine Basketball Association is struggling. Its gate receipts are on life support as it can no longer hold games in massive venues like Smart Araneta or MoA Arena despite the fact the Philippine Cup is now in the crucial stretch.

The league’s only badge of honor in the past few days was when it filled the Dasmariñas Arena last Thursday. The newly constructed venue, however, has a capacity of only 4,500 so the rare sold-out playdate didn’t move the needle as far as revenue is concerned.

With that, does it mean the PNVF is correct in claiming that the rise of volleyball has completely hurled basketball into oblivion?

For us, it’s a no — not yet.

Basketball remains the country’s most popular sport. We may not just see it in Metro Manila, but young athletes in provinces like Pampanga, Quezon, Cebu, and Davao are still dreaming of someday becoming basketball players — not volleyball players.

Aside from the attractive salaries should they make it all the way to the professional ranks in countries like Japan and South Korea, young athletes are picking up basketball because the game can be easily accessed and played anytime, anywhere.

The massive crowds that show up at games of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, especially in the provinces, is a solid testament that basketball — not volleyball — remains the national pastime of Filipinos.

The problem with volleyball is that it doesn’t have a solid national team program. Sure, it has become a force to reckon with when it comes to attendance, but these attractive figures will be worthless if the Filipinos remain in the dark cellar of the international arena.

The last time the country won a Southeast Asian Games gold medal in women’s volleyball was 31 years ago, something that fans and players of this generation would not even recall.

On the contrary, Filipino basketball players remain the kings of Southeast Asia. Their greatness has expanded to the Asian level after the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas drafted the charismatic Justin Brownlee to serve as its naturalized player in the 19th Asian Games last year.

Next month, Gilas Pilipinas will be shooting for a slot in the Paris Olympics when it competes in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, while the national women’s volleyball team couldn’t even get past Indonesia, Vietnam, and powerhouse Thailand to land on the medal podium of the SEA Games.

In terms of being the country’s No. 1 sport, basketball and volleyball are apples and oranges. They may look the same, but they have different qualities, different appeals, and different target markets.

So if the PNVF leadership wants to realize its claim of volleyball being the “No. 1 sport,” it has to wake up from its deep slumber and take advantage of the successes of its professional and collegiate leagues by fixing its national team program.

A shiny SEA Games gold medal will surely turn doubters into believers.