The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Caribbean Volleyball Championships is all set for August 3-11 in Trinidad & Tobago and the Bahamas Volleyball Federation is still trying to secure the funding to send off both the men’s and women’s national teams, albeit the men are the defending champions.

According to federation president Joseph ‘Joe Mo’ Smith, who will travel as the coach of the new look women’s team, they are in need of $30,000 or an average of $1,000 per player in order for both teams, including the coaching staff, to be able to travel.

“We don’t have no ticket yet, but we have the seats booked on Jet Blue,” Smith said. “We have not gotten any money from the Ministry of Sports, not a dollar yet. We have a couple of sponsors like BTC, who have promised to give us something, but we haven’t gotten anything yet. We are trying to hold out until Monday before we go back to the travel agency.”

The tentative plan is for both teams to leave on Saturday, August 2, which should allow them to get in by Sunday, August 3 when the official opening ceremony is set to be held. The tournament is actually scheduled to get started on Monday, August 3.

The British Virgin Islands and Haiti have both pulled out, leaving the field down to six men and six women teams, which according to Smith, should work in their favour, although they still have to finish in the top two to qualify for the 2015 NORCECA Championship.

The men, by the way, are the defending champions and should they win, they will automatically qualify. The men have also qualified for the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, November 15-30. It’s the first team sport to qualify in quite some time, which leaves Smith baffled as to why they can’t get any financial support.

Smith said they have had to secure a sponsorship for the team uniforms as Puma, the official sponsor for team uniforms, doesn’t make volleyball uniforms.

“We are the dark child. I don’t know what we have to do,” Smith said. “I really don’t know. I honestly don’t know. For a team that’s doing so well, I don’t know. I don’t understand it. I think we did our part. We’ve been in the trenches for years. We’ve done our part. Now we have qualified for CAC, so it tells you that we are doing something. But we can’t get any money to travel. It’s rough.”

The men’s team, coached by Smith, DeVince Smith and Lloyd Davis in the absence of head coach Raymond Wilson, will be without the service of Rommel Lightbourn, who has some school commitments in the United States. But travelling on the team are Prince Wilson, Renaldo Knowles, Tony Simon, Dereck Rahming, Shonari Hepburn, Shedrack Forbes, JeVaughn Saunders, Gaege Smith, Chanchey Cooper, Byron Ferguson, Jamaal Ferguson and Jon Isaacs.

As for the women’s team, Smith said it’s a young one with some new faces. Smith revealed that only five players in Melinda Bastian, an outside hitter, Krystel Brown, a middle blocker, Tia Charlow, utility player; Laval Sands, the libero and Michelle Thompson, another middle blocker, are back from the previous national team.

They will be joined by Brown’s sister, Cheryse Bain, an outside hitter, Britany Deveaux, a middle blocker, Janae Saunders, a setter, Britney Bonamy, utility player, Whitney Armbrister, a setter and opposite player, Jannelle Curtiss, an opposite player and Avoni Seymour, an outside hitter.

Smith will be assisted by Margaret Albury and Shantia McPhee.

“This is a young team with an age average around 21-22 years old,” Smith said. “So that’s looking respective. It’s telling us that we are on the right track where NORCECA want us to be. They want us to go young. In terms of playing, we had some of them on the team the last time for the exposure, so hopefully they will not be afraid of being put in the fire this time. But it’s a defensive team because we are a short team.

“We have a good defensive team in order to stay with those taller offensive teams. So it’s a very defensive sound team and if we can just stick to our guns, we will be in many games. But if we tend to try go pound for pound with the taller teams, then I think we will find ourselves on the losing end. We have to stay focus and refocus on what our goals are. I preach that to them day in and day out. But I think they get it now that we are thinking defence first.”

In preparation for the tournament, Smith said the players have bonded very well together, which is going to paramount if they are going to succeed.

“We will fight for a medal,” he said. “Over the past, our strength used to be in the middle and now that strength is on the outside. We’re an outside team now with the strength not really being in the middle. The opposites and the power players like Melinda (Bastian) and Cheryse (Bain) are our two big hitters on the outside with a rookie in Britany Deveaux in the middle, along with Michelle (Thompson) and Krystel (Brown).

“But we are not the same up the middle without Kelsie (Johnson) and Tammy (Emmanuel) there. They are no longer there, so we had to change up our game. We are much quicker now with the quick sets on the outside. We have a lot of speed on the outside and the opposite side. If you can develop a strong right outside, you will be in much games because 70 per cent of most balls go to the right side. So you have to develop your right side.”

Lance Miller and Mackland Rolle will be travelling to officiate during the tournament.