The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN an effort to improve their calibre of play from the junior to the senior level, the Bahamas Volleyball Federation has brought in renowned, certified international coach Augusto Jose Sabbatini of Mexico.

Sabbatini, who arrived in town on Saturday, has already made an impact, helping the men’s national team during their first practice on Saturday as they continue their preparation for the Central American and Caribbean Games to be held in Veracruz, Mexico, November 14-30.

On Tuesday, Bahamas Olympic Committee president Wellington Miller welcomed Sabbatini, indicating that he will work along with the Bahamian coaches to further polish the skills of all volleyball players, especially the national team players.

“It is another great partnership between the Bahamas Olympic Committee and one of our member federations, the Bahamas Volleyball Federation,” Miller said.

Federation president Joseph ‘Joe Mo’ Smith said that while the men’s national team has accomplished a great deal of success over the last few years, they are delighted that Sabbatini will be assisting them as they look forward to eventually trying to make history by qualifying for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

“We realise that to get to the Olympics and to the next level, we needed the help, so we wrote to our governing body for the assistance of a coach,” Smith said. “He arrived on Saturday, September 13 and he will be here until October 13. He didn’t waste anytime. He got out last night (Monday), working out with the men’s national team and we are poised to do very well at the 22nd CAC Games in November.”

During his stay here, Sabbatini is expected to work with the federation’s youth, junior and senior national programmes, in addition to assisting the coaches in a bid to bring them up to standard with the skills. Efforts, according to Smith, are also being made for Sabbatini to travel to Grand Bahama to conduct a week-long clinic for coaches and players in Grand Bahama and Abaco.

“When we look at picking the national team, we don’t just look at players from New Providence,” Smith said. “We had Chancey Cooper from Abaco on the men’s national team when we travelled to Trinidad just last month. So we’re looking at going into the Family Islands so that we can strengthen our programme.”

In 2013, the men’s team won the gold medal at the NORCECA 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship qualifier in Willemstad, Curacao and the gold as well at the Senior Caribbean Volleyball Championships in St Croix, US Virgin Islands.

This year, however, the Bahamas had to settle for third place in the third round of the World Cup Qualifier in Puerto Rico in May and was fourth at the 15th Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Championships in August in Trinidad & Tobago.

Although he will only be here for a month, Smith said the federation will be making full use of his skills to help get the team back over the hump.

Having travelled around the region to just about every tournament held, Sabbatini said he was always impressed with the Bahamas’ potential and he’s looking forward to making a contribution as the men’s team works towards further international acclaim.

“I really want to work with the youth programme because they are the future,” Sabbatini said. “But you have a very good men’s national team programme and I want to do what I can to help them to qualify for the Olympics. We have a lot of work to do, but I am confident that we can do it.”

Sabbatini, however, said the only problem that he has noticed is that the players all work, so it’s going to be difficult for him to implement a training routine where they should be working out at least twice a day every day in order to get to the next level.

While that is one issue, the federation is also facing the vexing problem of finding a permanent location to work out as they have to share the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium with a number of other activities that are hosted in the arena.