THE Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA) is considering hosting this summer’s Under-21 Men’s Caribbean Volleyball Championship (CVC), funding it through jersey sales under the slogan, “Irie Spikers”.

JaVA president Major Warrenton Dixon, noting that it would cost $3m-$4m to host the event and that with the Sports Development Foundation, (SDF) already indicating it would not be providing any additional funding to the association this year, said: “We will have to operate like entrepreneurs — take our destiny into our own hands.”

He believes the U-21 team “has what it takes to win (the) CVC at this level” and asserted as “extremely sad if they are not given a chance to wear the national colours at this level”.

The local volleyball boss reckoned that the sale of 14,000 jerseys, attractive enough for a fashionista to wear, in four months would fund the hosting of the tournament as well as send the U-20 girls to the CVC Championship in the US Virgin Islands.

Recommended price for each top is $2,500-$3,000, with the each shorts for $1,500-$2,000.

“This, of course, assumes no sponsorship support at all. In the spirit of charting our own destiny, we need to make this assumption and move forward with unwavering purpose,” Major Dixon explained.

With accommodation, meals, transportation, and venue rental taking up the bulk of the cost, JaVA has ruled out using the National Indoor Sports Centre, put at $2.5 million over the five days.

The University of Technology, with whom JaVA is still in negotiations, seems the preferred venue over GC Foster College, with the University of the West Indies being considered as the place where players can warm-up.

Major Dixon admits that while hosting of the 2009 World Championship qualifier has put JaVA in “vast debt” with fines incurred, he believes this time around “sponsors will have an opportunity to further expose their products to their target market, most or all of which is likely to be in Jamaica”.