The Tribune

National Tourney of Champions set for this weekend

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

TWELVE teams throughout the country will vie for the right to be crowned national champions on the volleyball court in the second national championship of the academic year.

The Ministry of Education and the Bahamas Volleyball Federation will present the National Tournament of Champions, sponsored by JS Johnson Insurance Company Limited, at CI Gibson Gym November 29-30.

The tournament will feature six boys and six girls teams from the BAISS and GSSSA in New Providence and the GBSA in Grand Bahama.

The tournament will feature a round robin format in the preliminary round with the top teams advancing to the playoffs.

In the boys’ division, the St Andrew’s Hurricanes will come in as the top ranked seed.

The Mt Carmel Prep Cavaliers are ranked second, followed by the CV Bethel Stingrays, Bishop Michael Eldon Warriors, Teleos Christian Cherubims and Government High Magic.

In the girls’ division, the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine come into the tournament as the top ranked seed.

The CV Bethel Stingrays are ranked second followed by the Teleos Christian Cherubims, CR Walker Knights, Mt Carmel Prep Cavaliers and St Georges High Jaguars.

The control committee will present individual awards to the top players of the tournament based solely on the final results of the Volleyball Information System (VIS).

Awards to be presented include best spiker, best digger, best blocker, best setter, best receiver, best libero, best server, best scorer and most valuable player (MVP).

The libero players will compete among each other for the best libero award of the event. Players selected to form the all-star team will be awarded a Ministry of Education diploma.

Evon Wisdom, director of the Sports Unit at the Ministry of Education, said the tournament will be a marquee event to remember.

However, the ninistry still seeks to bring all school sporting associations in line with the same calendar.

The BAISS traditionally ends their sporting calendar with volleyball, while it remains the first sport contested on the GSSSA calendar.

“The minister insisted that he wanted to see championship events in these major sports, especially in the senior high and junior high levels, not the primary level,” Wisdom said.

“In order for that to happen, it meant that we had to be playing the same sport at the same time in some extent. We know that we had a big problem with softball being last on the sporting programme for the GSSSA and Grand Bahama, while it’s first on the BAISS schedule and vice versa with volleyball. We found it was difficult to even do an invitational event that would decide a national champion in these two particular sports.”