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TATS SUZARA CALLS FOR UNIFIED LEAGUE TO BOOST NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM

A new dawn for the volleyball community as Newly-instated Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) chief Tats Suzara looks for the likelihood of forming a unified volleyball league that will cater to the biggest stakeholders in the country.

/ 1 February 2021

Suzara laid out his 10-point plan in his one-year leadership that features the formation of a body that would merge the belligerent Philippine Superliga (PSL) and Premier Volleyball League (PVL).

His primary objective is to serve Filipino families with entertainment through volleyball and to become a widely played sport by expanding it through high-performance competition and development activities.

But, the highlight of his agenda is to provide a federation-organized national league or national championship that will cater to the volleyball community whether beach or indoor volleyball that follows with the FIVB calendar. 

The executives of PSL and PVL have not always been on the same page due to various reasons that affected forming our national team that will represent the country in major international competitions.

But for Suzara, he envisions coming up with a federation-backed league where standouts in the PSL composed of the likes of Jaja Santiago, Kim Fajardo, and Dawn Macandili will finally play in the same league with the stalwarts of the PVL like Jia Morado, Kat Tolentino, and Alyssa Valdez.

“I will leave this to the events council commission, the new commission that will be in charge of the competitions and leagues,” Suzara discussed during a radio interview.

“But following the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) structure and all other examples in other countries, I want to have our very own league by the federation,” he clarified.

Suzara mulls that there should only be one league in order to boost our national team.

“Thailand has its own Thai league while Indonesia has Proliga,” he shared.

“We’ll have our own national league. Whether it’s professional or semi-pro, there should only be one league. This is part of our unification process,” he added.

Suzara furthermore discussed that he is backed by ranking executives from both leagues like PNVF chairman Ariel Paredes of the PSL and board members Ricky Palou and Tony Boy Liao of the PVL that they will soon discuss the matter.

“My objective here is to have a working board. It’s a working board that serves all stakeholders,” Suzara said. 

“I have a 10-point goal strategy for the next two years. I want all stakeholders around the country to participate and get involved in all commissioners like referees commission, coaches commission and events council commission,” he continued. 

“Everyone should participate and be involved in the commissions so that we get closer to the provinces and the other regions and not focusing only on Metro Manila.”