CEBU, Philippines - The Governor Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup has reached out to the grassroots level with the inclusion of elementary division for its seventh season this year.
Originally, the GUV Cup was solely a tournament for women but the men’s division was included two years ago.
Nona Catipay of the Cebu Volleyball Association (CEVA) said the inclusion of elementary players is a result of the Extensive-Governor Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball (E-GUV) program that was conducted few months ago.
“The elementary division was added giving emphasis to the E-GUV grassroots program that we had. This is an application of all the learning that each municipality acquired from the program,” said Catipay.
GUV chairman Glenn Anthony Soco, for his part, said that with the growing participation of the elementary students and out-of-school youth who belong to that age range, it’s high time to expose them.
“I believe that if there will be a children’s division, it will bring the sports development to where it should start-to the children. Sooner or later, the program will be reaping potential athletes for the national and international scenes,” he said.
Players from Catmon, who already collected four championship trophies in the Palarong Pambansa, also served as CEVA's inspiration in coming up with this latest move.
“The team only proved that they have sustainable program and we would like to replicate it to other towns here in Cebu in order to boost the pool of players that we have and that the coaches and schools will have a lot of choices,” Soco said. – THE FREEMAN