PHILIPPINE Super Liga president Tats Suzara and Premiere Volleyball League head Ricky Palou have taken the initial steps to streamline the 2018 volleyball calendar that hopefully will put the needs of the national team as top priority.
Finally sitting down for a long-delayed meeting, the two top officials agreed to find a workable solution to the constant schedule clashes between the two leagues and find a way to make top players available for selection to the national team.
“The PSL and the PVL are initiating an agreement to fix the volleyball calendar for 2018. This is the support of the PSL and the PVL to the national team,” said Suzara after their meeting at The Arena in San Juan on Friday.
The next move will be to invite representatives from the UAAP and the NCAA to have a clearer policy on the entry of college players in the commercial leagues.
“He wants to have a meeting with UAAP, NCAA and PVL para mag-ayusan ng schedule,” shared Palou. "Oo naman, I agree, I don't see why not."
“We want to talk to the UAAP and the NCAA so that we can arrange a schedule that won’t conflict with the four leagues,” added Suzara.
Both the PSL and the PVL, formerly Shakey’s V-League, have three conferences in a year.
The four-year old PSL is holding the Invitational Conference which runs for three weeks from March 4 to April 1, the All-Filipino from May to July and the Grand Prix from October to December.
Meanwhile, the PVL, which is on its 14th season, has the Reinforced Conference set from April to June, followed by the Collegiate Conference from September to October and the Open Conference from November to December.
The collegiate leagues are fit into the academic year. The UAAP starts January and ends in April, while the NCAA runs from November to January.
“Hopefully we can agree on one thing so that we can have a unified schedule and give volleyball in our country the right perspective,” said Suzara.