Hot, Hot, Hot!BY NEIL RAY RAMOS
BORACAY - That—in a nutshell, best describes this year’s edition of Nestea Beach.
Already in it’s 11th year, Nestea Beach once again confirmed itself a veritable magnet for action seekers, volleyball enthusiasts and sun worshippers, who, like in celebrations past, came in droves to crowd the already teeming shores of Bora for a glimpse of one of the country’s most intense beach volley action.
Already in it’s 11th year, Nestea Beach once again confirmed itself a veritable magnet for action seekers, volleyball enthusiasts and sun worshippers, who, like in celebrations past, came in droves to crowd the already teeming shores of Bora for a glimpse of one of the country’s most intense beach volley action.
That said, of course, there are those who are into it more for the sidelights particularly the parties and the celebrities.
According to Nestea consumer marketing manager Tina Samaco, it’s simply all about fun and excitement. “Over the years, Nestea Beach has been tantamount to exciting summers. This year is certainly no exception.”
And the choice of Bora as venue is still appropriate she said. “There’s no other beach paradise as big and as beautiful. We want to try other beaches but we haven’t found a beach area which can accommodate the size of crowd the event attracts each year,” alleged Samaco.
We couldn’t agree more, as the four-day event saw huge multitudes gathering themselves daily at the beach fronting Hey Jude Bar even as the sun burned. But it’s all worth it as the games bear out.
Stunning upset
From 48 teams from 34 colleges and universities nationwide that competed in the eliminations at La Salle Green Hills, 27 teams from 17 schools made it to the semis and final rounds.
In the end, University of Visayas’ Janez Igot and Jusabelle Brillo took down their counterparts from Southwestern University in the women’s division while in the men’s division, Mindanao State University Tawi-Tawi’s duo of Gabshar Tahilludin and Yusop Abdulkarim pulled off a stunning upset over the greatly favored Joshua Alcarde and Jeremy Floyd Pedregosa of Far Eastern University.
University of Visayas and Mindanao State University brought home the P150,000 top prize each while their head coaches each took home P50,000.
“I’ve been coaching volleyball for 20 years and I considered this one as my biggest achievements,” said University of Visayas head coach Raffy Briones.
For 22-year-old Brillo, who is majoring in criminology, the amount meant only one thing: I’ll get myself a new scooter,” she said beaming.
“This is for Mindanao. We’re so happy and so proud to finally win this one,” exclaimed Abdulkarim after thrashing Far Eastern University.
Mindanao State University’s come from behind conquest of Far Eastern University was undeniably, one of the most exciting finals matches in Nestea Beach Volley history. “Well, this is our last year so we came out more aggressive. It [was] now or never,” said the 26-year-old Tahilludin after receiving the P150,000 champions’ purse.
Scintillating celebs
Intense as the inter-school part of the tourney was, the celebrity matches was as scintillating and as entertaining. Seemingly inspired, the chiseled men and curvy women of local tinsel town gave their all in providing the crowd a fun and engaging contest even as the mid-day sun smolder hotly on their back.
The celebrity teams consisted of—(Team 1) Geoff Rodriguez, Tisha Silang, Andrew Neri and Mondo Armedilla; (Team 2) Brad Turvey, Nancy Castiglione, Karel Marquez and Bubbles Paraiso; (Team 3) Sam Oh, JR Isaac, Philip Cu–Unjieng and Iya Villania; (Team 4) Robby Mananquil, Valerie de los Santos, Amiel Cabanlig and Reema Chanco (hey, love that tan!).
After a few tumbles and spills (and laughs), the team of Rodriguez outplayed the team of Oh to clinch the Nestea Beach 2007 Celebrity Match Championship.
Beach revelry galore
But the fun didn’t end there. Came sundown there were the parties.
First off, was a sexy fashion show at the Boracay Mandarin Island Hotel that featured bodacious models parading the beachside creations of Boracay-based designer PJ Arañador. This went on the next night as ethnic/alternative band Kadangyan played a superb set at the “Brazilian Night” party held at Summer Place.
The “Egyptian” victory party held at Crystal Sand the following night, where Nestea gave away cool prizes and freebies galore, was another memorable one, highlighted as it was by the lively and wacky performance from Parokya ni Edgar, who aside from doing their hits also covered a couple of popular tunes from other bands to the delight of the gathered throng.
All told, boozing and partying became a nightly affair for us. Not that we’re complaining of course as indeed, the beach, the babes, the booze all go well together.
Keeping it clean
Yet it wasn’t all fun and parties. Nestea also did a beach clean-up campaign along Boracay’s stations 1 and 2, which saw the likes of Turvey, Castiglione and Oh together with island residents, resort owners and tourists earnestly picking up trash along the coastline.
Aside from the usual clean–up program that Nestea has been doing for the past 10 years, the company has decided to give donations to the Philippine Business for Social Progress.
“Supporting the beaches in our country is one of the projects of PBSP. And we love to be part of that. It is our way of giving back to the environment particularly our beaches, where Nestea has always held numerous successful events,” Tina shared.
Looking ahead, one can’t help but be keyed up at what the official drink of summer has in store for everyone next year. Whatever it is, we’re betting our tattered board shorts it’s going to be another heady summer blend that is definitely worth the plunge!
According to Nestea consumer marketing manager Tina Samaco, it’s simply all about fun and excitement. “Over the years, Nestea Beach has been tantamount to exciting summers. This year is certainly no exception.”
And the choice of Bora as venue is still appropriate she said. “There’s no other beach paradise as big and as beautiful. We want to try other beaches but we haven’t found a beach area which can accommodate the size of crowd the event attracts each year,” alleged Samaco.
We couldn’t agree more, as the four-day event saw huge multitudes gathering themselves daily at the beach fronting Hey Jude Bar even as the sun burned. But it’s all worth it as the games bear out.
Stunning upset
From 48 teams from 34 colleges and universities nationwide that competed in the eliminations at La Salle Green Hills, 27 teams from 17 schools made it to the semis and final rounds.
In the end, University of Visayas’ Janez Igot and Jusabelle Brillo took down their counterparts from Southwestern University in the women’s division while in the men’s division, Mindanao State University Tawi-Tawi’s duo of Gabshar Tahilludin and Yusop Abdulkarim pulled off a stunning upset over the greatly favored Joshua Alcarde and Jeremy Floyd Pedregosa of Far Eastern University.
University of Visayas and Mindanao State University brought home the P150,000 top prize each while their head coaches each took home P50,000.
“I’ve been coaching volleyball for 20 years and I considered this one as my biggest achievements,” said University of Visayas head coach Raffy Briones.
For 22-year-old Brillo, who is majoring in criminology, the amount meant only one thing: I’ll get myself a new scooter,” she said beaming.
“This is for Mindanao. We’re so happy and so proud to finally win this one,” exclaimed Abdulkarim after thrashing Far Eastern University.
Mindanao State University’s come from behind conquest of Far Eastern University was undeniably, one of the most exciting finals matches in Nestea Beach Volley history. “Well, this is our last year so we came out more aggressive. It [was] now or never,” said the 26-year-old Tahilludin after receiving the P150,000 champions’ purse.
Scintillating celebs
Intense as the inter-school part of the tourney was, the celebrity matches was as scintillating and as entertaining. Seemingly inspired, the chiseled men and curvy women of local tinsel town gave their all in providing the crowd a fun and engaging contest even as the mid-day sun smolder hotly on their back.
The celebrity teams consisted of—(Team 1) Geoff Rodriguez, Tisha Silang, Andrew Neri and Mondo Armedilla; (Team 2) Brad Turvey, Nancy Castiglione, Karel Marquez and Bubbles Paraiso; (Team 3) Sam Oh, JR Isaac, Philip Cu–Unjieng and Iya Villania; (Team 4) Robby Mananquil, Valerie de los Santos, Amiel Cabanlig and Reema Chanco (hey, love that tan!).
After a few tumbles and spills (and laughs), the team of Rodriguez outplayed the team of Oh to clinch the Nestea Beach 2007 Celebrity Match Championship.
Beach revelry galore
But the fun didn’t end there. Came sundown there were the parties.
First off, was a sexy fashion show at the Boracay Mandarin Island Hotel that featured bodacious models parading the beachside creations of Boracay-based designer PJ Arañador. This went on the next night as ethnic/alternative band Kadangyan played a superb set at the “Brazilian Night” party held at Summer Place.
The “Egyptian” victory party held at Crystal Sand the following night, where Nestea gave away cool prizes and freebies galore, was another memorable one, highlighted as it was by the lively and wacky performance from Parokya ni Edgar, who aside from doing their hits also covered a couple of popular tunes from other bands to the delight of the gathered throng.
All told, boozing and partying became a nightly affair for us. Not that we’re complaining of course as indeed, the beach, the babes, the booze all go well together.
Keeping it clean
Yet it wasn’t all fun and parties. Nestea also did a beach clean-up campaign along Boracay’s stations 1 and 2, which saw the likes of Turvey, Castiglione and Oh together with island residents, resort owners and tourists earnestly picking up trash along the coastline.
Aside from the usual clean–up program that Nestea has been doing for the past 10 years, the company has decided to give donations to the Philippine Business for Social Progress.
“Supporting the beaches in our country is one of the projects of PBSP. And we love to be part of that. It is our way of giving back to the environment particularly our beaches, where Nestea has always held numerous successful events,” Tina shared.
Looking ahead, one can’t help but be keyed up at what the official drink of summer has in store for everyone next year. Whatever it is, we’re betting our tattered board shorts it’s going to be another heady summer blend that is definitely worth the plunge!
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