The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RAJHAL Moxey and Gaege Smith are hoping that their second appearance in Trinidad and Tobago for the final NORCECA Youth Olympic Beach Volleyball Qualifying Tournament will get them a spot in the second Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.

The duo participated in the first round of the qualifying tournament in December for the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Zone NORCECA qualifying tournament in Maracas Bay, Trinidad & Tobago. Jamaica won the title to clinch the only qualifying spot.

The qualifying round was held just before the start of the CAZOVA Youth (Under-18) Championship at the Eastern Regional Indoor Sports Arena in Trinidad & Tobago in December where Moxey and Smith played with the rest of the Bahamas team.

The Bahamas Olympic Committee has already named Iram Lewis, one of their vice presidents, as the chef de mission, for the Bahamas team in China August 16-28. Beach volleyball is hoping to be one of the disciplines represented in China.

When the duo return for the final leg of the qualifying tournament, scheduled for April 10-14, they will have to compete against eight teams from the EIVA and CAZOVA region. Again, only the winner will advance.

The team will be coached by DeVince Smith, who is confident that the experience they gained will help to prepare Moxey and Smith for the challenge that’s ahead of them. “They played well in the first round,” coach Smith said. “From what I’ve seen today from the way they played against the senior teams, I think they have a fairly good chance. It’s just about coming out and being more focused and executing more.

“This round won’t be as easy as the first round, so it’s about being consistent and they need to execute. If they can improve on their reception, which they had a problem with in the first round, they should be okay because their offence and their service is not bad. But they were a little bit shaky on their reception.”

Coach Smith and his Scotiabank Defenders Volleyball Club hosted a beach volleyball tournament at the Bahamas Football Association’s beach soccer complex, which gave Moxey and Smith a chance to sharpen their skills.

The duo won the junior segment of the tournament and got a chance to compete against the top two men teams, which comprised of champions Renaldo Knowles and Muller Petit and runners-up Byron Rolle and Prince Wilson.

Moxey said he’s pretty anxious to see how well he and Smith will fear this time around. “We’re ready, although we haven’t played in a while before this tournament,” he said.

“I feel confident in our strategy and our plans. Personally, I think this trip is for more experience than anything else. We played in Trinidad in the first round, but this trip was unexpected. But I think we will do fine because we got some tips from the senior players who went on the beach volleyball trips before. They told us we need to talk a little more and open up some more.”

Moxey, on behalf of Smith, thanked the Defenders Club for putting on the tournament so they could gauge their progress going back to Puerto Rico. He also thanked the BFA for allowing them to play on the facility and he hopes that they can get in some more tournaments in the future.

“We have some room for improvement, but I feel confident that we will do very well,” said Moxey, a 17-year-old who is completing his post-high school year at St Andrew’s School where he is doing the Ivy diploma programme.

As for Smith, he feels that the bond that he and Moxey developed in the short space of time that they have been playing will definitely help them when they return to Puerto Rico to compete this weekend.

“We played on a few teams together and we have gotten the setting and hitting down packed,” he said. “We call it the 1-2 punch because of the way we connect with each other in game situations. But it’s kind of hard to say how we feel we will play in this tournament. I think we should do very well because we have a lot of experience playing together and the experienced players have been giving us some tips that we have been working on together.”

While they got to prove to the other teams in the junior division that they are indeed the top team in the country, Smith said they don’t want to rest on their laurels because they have a bigger challenge ahead of them, competing against some top notch teams in the region. “You can expect us to do our best,” said Smith ahead of their departure. “If it be gold, silver or bronze, as long as we do our best, we should do very well in this tournament.”

Smith, a 17-year-old in his senior year at Mt Carmel Preparatory Academy, said the sky is the limit for him and Moxey, who are both coming off their initial appearance last year on the men’s national indoor volleyball team.

Coach Smith said they intend to utilise the soccer facility over the last few days before they travel to help Moxey and Smith to work on their reception. If they can improve on that, he too is confident that the duo can have a very good showing in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend.