The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the third consecutive year, the Defenders Volleyball Club will keep the memory of their former player Tamaz Thompson alive with the hosting of the Defenders Volleyball Tournament.

The tournament is scheduled to begin 7pm tonight at the DW Davis Gymnasium and continues at 10am Saturday, wrapping up on Sunday at 3pm when the 2019 men and women champions will be crowned.

Jason Saunders, who along with Margaret 'Muggy' Albury is organising the tournament, said they hope to have at least four women and five men teams participate with players being mixed among themselves to make it a little more competitive. "Normally this tournament is just to kick off the volleyball season and hopefully it will lead into what we call a pre-season tournament in September," Saunders said.

"We just want to see where players are at for the most part.Normally, we have a mixture of players playing on different teams, so we try to make it a really fun and competitive tournament. It's also a fundraiser to assist cancer patients as it's named after Tamaz Thompson, who herself died from cancer."

Teams from within the New Providence Volleyball Association, of which Thompson was a member with the Vixens Volleyball Club, will be participating.

The registration fee is $20 per player or $200 per team. "We expect some good competition," said Saunders, who noted that the Defenders Club will be splitting up their players on the various teams so that they can help bring some parity to the tournament.

Thompson, who was 26 at the time of her death on March 30, 2015, graduated from Acadia University with a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and worked in the rehabilitation field at Changes Rehab Center where she specialised in sports rehabilitation, back, neck and shoulder recovery, exercise prescription and senior adult exercises.

Her father, Perry Thompson Sr, said they are forever grateful to Saunders and Albury for their efforts to carry on in honour of his deceased daughter, who was also a budding track and field athlete who participated in the sprint events. "Tamaz touched quite a number of lives in her short time on earth, so I'm elated and honoured for what they do for her," he said. "Muggy and Jason are making sure that they keep her memory alive."

Having seen the past two tournaments, Thompson said he would like to see if the Defenders Volleyball Club can make a contribution to assist a local volleyball player who might be in need in whatever way they can.

"That was what Tamaz was all about," he said. "She wanted to help as many people as she can. So if we can get that same mindset, I think that would be awesome to remember her too."

The Defenders Club is hoping to make this tournament a fixture on the Independence celebrations as of next year. If they do, he said they intend to invite teams from Grand Bahama and the Family Islands to attend.

Additionally, the Defenders Volleyball Club also intends to reintroduce the Defenders Spike Tournament, which was started by the late DeVince Smith.

Saunders said they will be honouring Smith when they invite international players and teams to participate.