Philippine volleyball was alive and kicking on a balmy Wednesday night.
Just a few hours before, the Filipino volleyball players — collectively known as Alas Pilipinas — ripped Australia in three sets to clinch the bronze medal in the AVC Challenge Cup that the country hosted at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The feat meant so much to sports-loving Filipinos. It was not just a historic achievement, it also signaled the rebirth of the sport that has a turbulent — and controversial — past.
In short, it was a bronze minted in gold.
When the country joined the Southeast Asian Games Federation in 1961, one of its consistent medal producers were the volleyball players, especially the women’s team.
The Filipinas ruled six editions of the biennial meets, the last in 1993 where they defeated the Thais in a dramatic final battle in Singapore.
The team that ruled the Singapore Games was superb. Zenaida Ybañez, an imposing 6-foot-3 spiker from Cebu, served as the engine on offense with Leonora Escollante setting the plays to spikers like Rosemarie Prochina, Thelma Barina, Natalie Cruz and Bernadeth Burcelis.
Their head coach was Stanislav Lugailo of Russia under the leadership of the Philippine Amateur Volleyball Federation president Victorico Chaves and secretary general Ramon Suzara.
But the golden run in 1993 proved to be the last.
Ybañez, who eventually married amateur boxer Ronald Chavez, failed to see action in the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai after getting pregnant, prompting the national squad to settle for the silver medal before completely losing its grip on Southeast Asian supremacy.
Since then, the gold medal has remained elusive. The Thais blossomed into a superpower, winning the next 14 gold medals while Indonesia and Vietnam emerged as consistent medal finishers.
The Philippines? Well, after settling for a bronze medal in the 23rd SEA Games in Bacolod City in 2005, darkness gripped Philippine volleyball as the federation, the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF), got suspended for its failure to pay its dues for hosting the World Grand Prix in 2003 and 2004.
Those in the know said the amount was a whopping $100,000 — or P5 million — that ranking PVF officials refused to pay despite several collection notices sent by the International Volleyball Federation or FIVB (Federation Internationale de Volleyball).
Nearly a decade later, the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI) was assembled with the goal of reviving the sport and sending the Filipinas to the Singapore SEA Games in 2015.
Joey Romasanta, then the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) spokesperson, served as the LVPI president but it was obviously Suzara who was pulling the strings as he was said to have influenced the FIVB and the Asian Volleyball Confederation to fast-track the recognition of the new federation.
The formation of the LVPI had been painful and very controversial as it disenfranchised some stakeholders of the old PVF, especially those who were promoting volleyball in various provinces. Still, Romasanta and Suzara soldiered on until they eventually regained the support of the volleyball community.
But their partnership was just a marriage of convenience.
When Romsanta lost his power in the POC, the FIVB and the AVC suddenly withdrew their support from the LVPI. Eventually, the officials of the two governing volleyball bodies were singing a different tune and they were endorsing Suzara to spearhead the creation of a brand new federation, which became the Philippine National Volleyball Federation.
Now, Suzara has risen to become the president of the PNVF. He is the last man standing in this decades-long power struggle and could even be in line to become the next president of the Asian volleyball federation.
That’s why seeing these brave Filipinas standing on the medal podium of the AVC Challenge Cup is such a watershed moment. The heartaches and the sacrifices from decades of struggle were all worth it as they finally gained international success.
Soon, Alas Pilipinas head coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito will be leaving and will be replaced by another Brazilian in Sergio Veloso, who will relinquish his role as head coach of the men’s team in favor of Italian Angiolino Frigioni.
College stars Casiey Dongallo, Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon will also be joining the national squad, assuring a smooth transition to the future generation of stars.
Yes, things are looking bright for the Filipina volleyball players. The only thing that is missing? A shiny SEA Games medal.