The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE third CAZOVA Youth Girls Volleyball Championships that was postponed in August is now scheduled to be held December 4-9 in Tacarigua, Trinidad and Tobago.

And according to head coach Kurkwood Greene Sr, the Bahamas Volleyball Federation is ensuring that the team is ready to compete.

The Bahamas will be participating in the tournament for the first time and will be matched against three teams that will come from the region. They include Barbados, Curacaos, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and the US Virgin Islands.

The winner of the tournament will qualify for the continental tournament, which is a part of the process for qualification for the World Championships.

“Unfortunately, we will not be able to submit a boys’ team because of the downturn in the economy and the fact that the host country can only accommodate four boys teams and four girls teams,” Greene Sr said.

“Unfortunately for the boys, there were already four teams in the boys division that had already signed up. Fortunately for our girls, we were committed from August, so it wasn’t a problem for our girls to participate.”

Trinidad & Tobago are the defending champions, but Greene Sr said the Bahamas team will be a force to reckon with.

“Our girls have to get mentally tough and one way for them to do that is to play a lot more,” he said. “So we have entered them in the New Providence Volleyball Association’s night league. So we play in the night league and even though we take our beating, we are gaining the exposure of playing at a high level of volleyball.

“We’re hoping that will give them the mental toughness and overall motivation to go to Trinidad & Tobago and compete at a very high level.”

Looking at the structure of the team, which is designed for players who are under the age of 16, Greene Sr said they have been able to recruit a few players with some height, which is something that is needed at tournament play.

“They haven’t seen our best game yet in the New Providence Volleyball Association,” he said. “But if we can continue to build on that chemistry, we should definitely be one of the two teams participating in the championship game.”

Although they can carry up to 18 players, the team will comprise of the best 12 players who will get a chance to compete.

Assisting Greene in the coaching capacity is Margaret Albury. Joanne Brown-Hamilton is the team manager and Lloyd Davis will be in charge of the delegation. The team is expected to leave on December 4, once they can secure the necessary funding.

“Our women’s team is not doing as good as our men, but these women are our future,” Greene Sr said. “So we are hoping that if they can get the exposure at this level, they can gain the confidence to be able to truly perform at a higher level in the future.”