Princess Anne Pido of South Western UNiversity (SWU) save the ball during the elimination round of Talisay City Liberation Beach Volleyball Competition in 2011. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
With the presence of a world-class coach in Eric Lecain, the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) under its energetic chairman, Edward Hayco, is embarking on an ambitious project aimed towards the grassroots development of beach volleyball.
Hayco, the man behind the ongoing grassroots development program for sports of Cebu City, told Cebu Daily News yesterday that they are currently ironing out the little remaining kinks of the CCSC’s upcoming development program specifically targeted towards beach volleyball.
“We will be having the beach volleyball developmental competition and Olympic qualifying tournament soon. It will be a series of six competitions in one year to sharpen the skills and at the same time develop the sport (beach volleyball) on a grassroots level,” said Hayco. “We are also identifying the (beach volleyball) athletes that we can send to the Asian Games and qualify for the 2016 Olympics,” he added.
Hayco said that with Lecain at the helm, it would be a very fruitful grassroots development program for beach volleyball.
“This program is specific for beach volleyball. We want to take advantage of the presence of a world class coach in Eric,” said Hayco.
Lecain, an American, is currently the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) designated beach volleyball consultant. He has just concluded organizing the first beach volleyball tournament of the year in Cebu, the 2014 2nd Sinulog King of the Beach at the PSC’s lone beach volleyball courts at Fort San Pedro.
The American coach told CDN earlier that another King of the Beach tournament is slated this February 22-23 at the same venue.
“Let’s aim for the stars so we can land on the moon. We have to be ambitious even if it sounds ridiculous! Sending a man to the moon sounded ridiculous then. We just have to dream big and act on it too,” said Hayco.