Ja names 13-man squad for volleyball championship
A 13-man Jamaica team was named last week as preparations intensified for the eighth Caribbean Men’s Junior Volleyball Championship to be held from July 23-27 at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTech).
The details of the team and tournament were announced by president of the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA), Major Warrenton Dixon, at a press briefing held at the office of the Jamaica Olympic Association.
The tournament is being staged by JaVA under the auspices of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA), the North Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA), and the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation.)
The 13-man unit will be lead by captain Meshach McKnight and includes his outstanding schoolmate from St Jago High, Ryck Webb, as well as Jovanny Clarke and Matthew Blake.
Rojey Hutchinson, Shadayne Reynolds, Omar Wilson, Shavar Bryan and Nicolas Campbell are all members of Oracabessa’s 2010 winning Under-15 high school team. The remainder of the team includes Kammar Segree and Kristopher Thompson, who were part of the Wolmer’s 2011 high school Under-15 winning team. Also named are Ackeem West of Old Harbour High and Ramoine Peart from Campion College.
The team is coached by O’neil Ebanks and Gatasheu Bonner, and includes trainer Fabian Miller and manager Diana Millwood.
Jamaica will do battle with Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands, Curacao and Haiti at the five-day event. Defending champions French Guiana and three-time winners Netherland Antilles will not participate.
Jamaica will be seeking to go one better than their best finish of second at the tournament’s inaugural staging in 1997. Their next best placing was third when they last hosted the event in 1999. They are also working hard to improve on their most recent placing of seventh when they last entered in 2007.
When the tournament gets next week Saturday, matches will be played between 12 noonand 9:00 pm, while all other match days will see games between 1:00 and 9:00 pm.
Hosts Jamaica will have their games played at “prime time” at 7:00 pm each day.
