PVL still waiting for practice permission, expects delay in conference opening

MANILA, Philippines — With its request for resumption of training still on hold, the Premier Volleyball League may just miss its target of holding at least a conference late this year.

But as soon as it gets the green light from the government to start practice, it may open early next year the soonest.

“We’ve already filed our request for resumption of practice as early as last June and we kept following it up,” said Ricky Palou, president of the organizing Sports Vision. “And until now, we’re still waiting."

“But even if we get the approval now, the soonest we could start is January because we and the teams would need two to three months to prepare,” he added.

The PVL is having a hard time getting approval from the Inter-Agency Task Force because there is no government agency directly supervising a commercial league like itself.

The same goes with leagues like the Spiker’s Turf, Maharlika Basketball Pilipinas League and the Philippine Superliga, which has the same commercial status as the PVL.

The pros, which have already resumed training and ready to start their leagues, have the Games and Amusements Board while the collegiate leagues like the UAAP and NCAA have the Commission on Higher Education to supervise them.

National or amateur athletes, who fall under the Philippine Sports Commission, are also close to restarting training.

Commercial leagues like the PVL have no such agencies.

“Our case is difficult because technically, we’re commercial in nature and we have no supervising body handling us compared to the PBA which has GAB and the college leagues which have CHED,” said Palou.