ALL these years later, Cha Cruz-Behag is still very much Philippine volleyball’s ‘Miss Everything.’
Only now, she’s doing it from just about everywhere, all at once.
A four-time UAAP champion with La Salle, Behag has made a return to Taft more than a decade after her last title run with the Lady Spikers in Season 74.
This time, she is back in a managerial role, helping former head coach Ramil de Jesus and the rest of the green-and-white in their bid to restore La Salle to the summit of women’s volleyball in Season 88.
And that is only half of it.
Behag has also carried her front-office work to the PVL, moving with the Petro Gazz core to Nxled following the Angels’ leave of absence.
For Behag, though, coming home to Taft Ave. goes far deeper than nostalgia or familiarity.
Beyond her gratitude for everything RDJ and the school have done for her, this homecoming is about paying it forward.
After years of helping build the Lady Spikers' winning culture, one that also extended into her seven-year run with F2 Logistics in the club ranks, Behag now wants to help preserve and pass on that heralded legacy from a different seat.
“La Salle has given me so much. I’m not gonna be where I am if it weren’t for La Salle, so for me to be given that opportunity and also responsibility to give back to my former team, it's really, really an honor for me,” she told SPIN.ph.
“It’s a joy for me na tulungan si coach Ramil kasi I know kung ano ‘yung sistema niya. I know kung ano ‘yung gusto niyang disiplina na ma-instill and to be part of that continuing legacy is a blessing for me and I'm very grateful for that.
“Kaka-start ko nga lang this January also with the team. It’s like I never left kasi parang I feel like lahat ng mga na-experience ko before, it’s still very much the same. Everything’s still so nostalgic.”
'Miss Everything' means everything
Her return to Taft, just a few months in, has coincided with what looks like a La Salle revival.
After sweeping the first round of Season 88 behind a much younger core, the Lady Spikers appear primed to end a rare two-season title drought.
For Behag, the reason is as clear as it has always been.
“I think the secret recipe has always been there. It’s RDJ. It’s coach Ramil talaga,” she said.
“You know that these girls are also in the right hands, na talagang mamo-mold sila, not just as volleyball players, but also as good human beings.”
Cha-mpioning the cause
Behag may be back in familiar volleyball circles, but there’s one thing about her current place in the sport that she knows remains uncommon.
As a woman now working in leadership within women’s volleyball, she is fully aware she occupies a space still rarely seen.
Just look at the coaching landscape.
In UAAP Season 88, only FEU’s Tina Salak and NU’s Regine Diego serve as female head coaches. In NCAA Season 101, the list is just as short with Letran’s Mayette Carolino and JRU’s Mia Tioseco. In the PVL, Salak stands alone as the lone female head coach with Akari.
The picture is not much different in the front office, where Capital1’s Mandy and Milka Romero are the only female team owners in the league.
For Behag, being one of the few visible female leaders in the sport is more than a personal breakthrough. She hopes it becomes proof that women in the sport can have a larger place in the game beyond their years on the floor.
“It’s not just about playing. You're not just playing inside, but it's also moving from the outside and guiding them and helping them. It's also such a big role,” she said.
“Right now, I've been there on the inside, but working behind the scenes, it's also the same feeling na you're really helping the team from the outside naman.”
And for Behag, the work also goes beyond the present. It is about helping build a path that future generations of women in the sport can still walk long after their playing careers end.
“We don't really see volleyball this big. With us doing this now, as early as now, and for the girls to see na may continuity, there's another platform even after playing, they will see that, ‘Oh, I still have another chance to inspire other people.’ And not just to inspire, but also to tap in and mentor other generations,” she added.
At 37, Behag’s homecoming also feels like a passing of the torch. Just as she hopes to carry on the legacy of de Jesus in La Salle, she also wants to help extend the sport’s growth through the years of experience that made her one of Philippine volleyball’s defining figures.
“I’m still very blessed that I have this opportunity to still be working from the management side and in the volleyball world kasi I feel like this is still a platform for me to share my knowledge, my experience, to mentor,” she said.
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