Volleyball in the Philippines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
The history of volleyball in the Philippines refers to the history of volleyball in
the Philippines as a recreation and as a sport. Philippine volleyball history began in
1910 when the Philippines was a United States territory (1898–1946). The Filipinos
have made significant contributions to volleyball in its evolution as a professional and
international game. The Filipinos continued playing volleyball up to the modern-day
period in its status as an independent republic (1946–present).
Volleyball in the Philippines is a female-dominated sports, with two commercial leagues
serving as the de facto top-flight leagues in the country; the Philippine Super Liga and
the Premier Volleyball League. The Spikers' Turf is the top-tier the men's volleyball
league in the Philippines.

Contents

 1Introduction
 2Filipino contributions
o 2.1Inspiration for the three-hit limit
o 2.2Setting and spiking the ball
 3Associations
 4Leagues
 5Participation and gender
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Introduction[edit]
It was introduced to the Filipinos by an American named Elwood S. Brown,[1] the then
Physical Director of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). It became a
popular game held in backyards and at beaches in the islands. At first, the Filipinos
invented their own rules for the game.[2] US soldiers who were assigned to the different
islands of the Philippine during the period also helped in the widespread introduction of
volleyball to the Filipinos. These American military servicemen encouraged the Filipinos
to join them in playing during their time-off from military duties. [3] Early in the history of
the game of volleyball in the Philippines, the Filipinos used trees as makeshift net
holders (the net was hung between the two chosen trees). [2]

Filipino contributions[edit]
The Filipinos contributed two items to modern-day volleyball: [2]
Inspiration for the three-hit limit[edit]
The first contribution was that the Filipinos inspired American players to create the
"three-hit limit" for each player in modern-day volleyball. This number of limits in hitting
the ball was based by American volleyball players from the Filipino way of letting each
player hit the ball before sending or "volleying" it over to the side of the opponent team.
The Americans revised this method to become the "three-hit limit" because the old way
of taking turns in hitting the ball took too much time, and had been observed to affect
the intensity of the game and the motivation of the participating volleyballers (lessens
the "challenge and the competitive nature" of the game). [2]
Setting and spiking the ball[edit]
The second Filipino contribution was the "set and spike" maneuver, [2] also known as "set
and hit",[3] "setting and spiking",[4] or just "spike".[3] A spike is a form of volleyball "attack"
done by the player by jumping, raising one arm above the head and hitting the ball so it
will move quickly down to the ground on the opponent's court. The set, on the other
hand, is an over-hand pass done by the setter (another player) using the wrists to push
finger-tips at the ball.
It was after accepting the new set of rules created by the Americans regarding the
"three-hit limit" when the Filipino volleyball players at the time invented the "set and
spike" maneuver. The new technique invented by the Filipinos prompted American
enthusiasts and participants in volleyball to call it as the "Filipino bomb", because
"spiking the ball" was like a "hit" or a form of "attack" that can squash or "kill" the
opportunity of the opponent team to hit the ball back for a possible point or win. [2] A more
apt description of "hitting and spiking" is that it is "an offensive style of passing the ball
in a high trajectory to be struck by another player." [4]

Associations[edit]
The Philippine Amateur Volleyball Association (PAVA) was founded by the Playground
and Recreation Bureau (PRB) of the Philippines on July 4, 1961. It was renamed
the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) in 2003.[2] The PVF was the recognized
sporting body for volleyball until 2015, when recognition was transferred to the Larong
Volleyball sa Pilipinas (LVPI), following a leadership dispute in the PVF. The LVPI itself
was succeeded by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) in 2021.

Leagues[edit]
Indoor Collegiate:

 UAAP
 NCAA
Indoor:

 Premier Volleyball League

 Philippine Superliga
 Spikers' Turf
Beach:

 Beach Volleyball Republic

 Philippine Superliga
 UAAP
 NCAA

Participation and gender[edit]

Filipino men playing volleyball in Bulacan.

Volleyball is a female-dominated sports in the Philippines with men's volleyball league

games lagging behind their distaff counterpart in terms of attendances. There are
several speculations raised to explain the popularity of women's volleyball in the
Philippines over men's volleyball. This includes: [5]

 Gender role belief which dictates that basketball is the "sport for men" with
volleyball fulfilling the same role for women, a different style of play in men.
Conversely traditional gender roles dictates that sports in general is for men only,
and women's advocates used volleyball as a platform for women's participation in
sports. Men's volleyball was also historically viewed as feminine.
 Difference in the prevalent style of play in men's and women's volleyball; men's
volleyball is defined by power and speed which translates to quick play while the
playing style of women is characterized by longer rallies which evokes drama for the
spectators. The latter is generally preferred over the latter.
 Preference for women's volleyball due to a "sexuality" factor; the women's game
is favored due to its physically attractive players – a controversial viewpoint which
fans say is downplay the merits of Philippine women's volleyball.
Men's volleyball gained a traction after the Philippine national team clinched a silver
medal in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.[6]