Superliga bares incentives in collegiate, all-Filipino tilts
The Philippine Superliga will hold a collegiate tournament side by side with its upcoming All Filipino Conference beginning Oct. 30, sweetening the pot with an overseas training camp for the champion.
PSL chairman Philip Ella Juico said four teams have so far expressed their intention to see action, including University of the Philippines, University of the East, Santo Tomas and Far Eastern U, with two more non-UAAP squads also interested to join.
“Our plan is to hold the collegiate teams only on Saturdays and there’s a major incentive here – an allexpense-paid training camp probably in Thailand. ESPN 5 is putting that together,” Juico said during the blessing of PSL’s new office in Ortigas, Pasig.
He said the collegiate meet will utilize the rules of the previous Invitational Conference, where one group plays in the first set and another group takes the court in the second frame and the third will be “free-for-all”. Additionally, they will use “video challenge” again.
“A lot of collegiate teams are interested. They want to feel the pressure of playing before a huge crowd because very often they may be good but they’re not used to a big crowd and mental toughness still has to be raised to a higher level,” said Juico.
Juico reported that nine clubs will slug it out for the All Filipino diadem, including PLDT and the core of National U which will play under the Monolith Construction banner.
The league, he added, will stage games in Imus, Bacoor, Muntinlupa, Malalos and new venues in Caloocan and Pasig in line with the its thrust of “bringing the sport to the communities.”
“It’s going to be a whole lot of volleyball and we’re hoping this will help continue upgrading the quality of Philippine volleyball,” said Juico.