Defending champions in the New Providence Volleyball Association (NPVA), the Scottsdale Vixens and the Scotiabank Defenders, are both hoping to start their seasons off on a strong note.
Both teams are set to open their season this Sunday at the D.W. Davis Gymnasium. The Vixens will play the 2010/11 runners-up, the Johnson's Lady Truckers, at 3:30 p.m., while the Defenders will take to the court against the Technicians in the men's feature match. The match between the Defenders and the Technicians will start at 5 p.m. So far, five female teams and four male squads have confirmed their participation in the league this season. Games will be played Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Games on Wednesdays and Fridays will start at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matches will begin at 3:30 p.m.
Acting President DeVince Smith said he is looking forward to another exciting season, with hopes of having more teams added. He said: "I must say that the championships were very exciting last season, and I expect these first set of games to bring the same thrill. All of the teams seem to be ready to play on the opening day and throughout the long season.
"Right now, we only have confirmation from some of the teams, with the top four teams from both divisions returning. There are about two or three other teams that have expressed interest, but, due to the global economic environment and the recession that we have experienced over the past few months, local sponsors who would have given financial assistance to teams in previous years have pulled back a bit. We have players who are willing to play and form teams, but they are still having issues with securing sponsorship, which might affect their participation in the upcoming season.
"There's talk about players moving around this season, but nothing has been confirmed as yet. We won't know until the players hit the court. But overall, I think that the season is going to be a very competitive one. I don't think there will be any major increase, if any, but we are hoping to secure the teams that have participated in last year's season. If we are able to do that, the results will be very good again. We will have another exciting season."
The match-up between the Vixens and the Lady Truckers has always been a crowd pleaser and the Vixens leading middle player, Krystel Rolle, is expecting nothing less on Sunday. Despite not being able to hold practice sessions on a consistent basis, Rolle said the team is ready to play and will look to improve on their impressive winning season again.
Rolle said: "We're coming off a really long break. Unfortunately we were not able to practice and prepare as much as we would have liked to, but our team is, somehow, always able to persevere. We're excited about Sunday's game and ready to get back in the swing of things. Our hope is to improve or maintain the record we had last year. In total I think we lost two games during the regular season and the championships. This year we hope to do even better."
On the men's side, the Defenders will have Shedrick Forbes, Ian Pinder and Endeirich Rahming going up against top blocker Byron Ferguson and the Technicians. Ferguson teams up with leading hitter Renaldo Knowles and Ron 'Box' Demeritte.
The 2011/12 season is expected to wrap up in late January. The league's Annual General Meeting (AGM), when the election of officers is set to take place, will be held in February, 2012. No elections were held two years prior so an interim committee is now in place. The committee was formed at the latest management meeting, held on Tuesday past. It was also decided that a steering committee will oversee the daily operation this season.
Smith said: "We missed elections. They should have been held last year, but it was an oversight by the executives, so we will hold the elections next year February shortly after we complete the season. Based on a decision coming out of the management meeting held, a steering committee will now oversee everything.
"We also decided that since we have only received about four team rosters, to extend the deadline. The deadline for the unofficial rosters was last week Friday but there is a window to allow teams to finalize their rosters. They have until their third scheduled game, so even up to that period, we can see new faces or movement once players haven't competed prior to that game. I wouldn't know until these teams play. So far everything is just speculation, until we receive official team rosters and entrance fees."

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