Volleyball squad in re-building stage

Sat, Jul 2nd 2011, 12:01 PM

The recent change in the age for junior male players that were looking to compete in the upcoming Junior Caribbean Volleyball Championships (JCVC), can affect the country's chances of winning the overall crown for English-speaking countries in the region, now that five of their key persons from last year's team has been deemed ineligible.
National team head coach DeVince Smith said that the announcement by the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) came as a blow, especially since it was made just months ago. He noted that junior male players in the country were working on their skills ever since returning from the biennial championships in 2009. This year's hosting by the Jamaican Volleyball Association (JVA) July 21-28 can test the growth and stability of the junior program in the Bahamas Volleyball Federation (BVF) now that both squads are affected.
Smith said: "It is a relatively new team, only one prospect from last year's team is eligible to make this year's team, so basically we are starting over from scratch. The tournament has now been geared to players 18 years and younger. So only person born in 1993 and thereafter are eligible to play in this year's Caribbean Volleyball Championships.
"It was a blow because when I looked at last year we tried to rebuild from then. We took a good mix of players that were fairly senior and junior, in terms of skills. A lot of those players who were able to get that exposure are now up to par. But we found out that they are now ineligible to play so it is like we are rebuilding all over again.
"I would say it was kind of difficult because we don't have a lot of male athletes in particular who are interested in volleyball. We give thanks to the New Providence Volleyball Association (NPVA) for their junior development program whereby we were able to use that as a feeder system for try-outs for the BVF national team. We went back to the feeder system to recruit these players who would have gained some skills set during the development that began last year May."
The ineligible players that were hoping to return and lead the team to glory are Gary Greenslade, Chauncey Cooper, Lorenzo Williams, Matthew Wert and John Isaacs.  Deandre Forbes is the only player from the 2009 team that has met the age requirements. Smith believes that his skills have improved and if named, he will make a great contribution to the team which finished sixth at the Guadeloupe Championships.
Teams this year expected to compete are host Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, US Virgin Islands, Curacao, The Bahamas and Martinique. The junior team will continue to practice until departure time.

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