BEACH Volleyball Republic (BVR) co-founder Charo Soriano is wearing another hat as a board member of the newly formed local volleyball association Philippine National Volleyball Federation, Inc. (PNVFI).

Ms. Soriano was one of the sport’s stakeholders voted to the board of the PNVFI, along with Ricky Palou, Tony Boy Liao, Karl Chan, Carmela Gamboa, and Fr. Vic Calvo, in elections held on Monday at the East Ocean Seafood Restaurant in Parañaque City.

PNVFI is headed by Ramon Suzara who was voted as president in the proceedings supervised by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) on the request of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).

The FIVB asked the POC to oversee an election among volleyball stakeholders in the country at the soonest possible time to settle once and for all the issue on who gets to officially represent the Philippines in the federation.

The PNVFI replaces the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc.

In her latest role, Ms. Soriano said she welcomes the opportunity to serve on the board and help foster unity among stakeholders and further push the growth of volleyball.

“Admittedly, the road that paved the way toward a united volleyball community had many pitfalls, but today is different — today is all about hope, unity, and commitment,” said Mr. Soriano in a statement.

“It is truly such an honor to be part of the federation and to materialize our responsibility to make the dreams of the Filipino volleyball athletes come true. At the end of the day, it is my personal calling and mission to give back to the sport that taught me so much about life — on and off the court,” she added.

Ms. Soriano, along with other Ateneo women’s volleyball players, founded BVR in 2015 with the aim of growing beach volleyball in the country.

It has been successful in its push of staging different events in various parts of the country, raising the profile of current players and discovering new ones.

Ms. Soriano was in charge of the country’s beach volleyball national team program for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, where both the men’s and women’s teams won bronze medals. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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