Jamaica’s volleyball boss Major Warrenton Dixon will leave the island today for the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) 33rd World Congress in Anaheim, California in the United States.

The September 19-21 Congress will mark a new era in the international volleyball community with the focus of electing a new president for the next four years, to replace the outgoing Jizhong Wei of China who will stand down after only one term.

FIVB executive vice-president Dr Ary Graça, who also heads the South America Volleyball Confederation and the Brazil Volleyball Federation, appears to be the front-runner to become the fourth president of the world body.

He will vie for the post with Doug Beal, FIVB Board of Administration member and CEO of USA Volleyball, and Chris Schact, president of the Australia Volleyball Federation.

Major Dixon has committed Jamaica’s support to the candidacy of Dr Graça, citing past and current assistance that Brazil has given to not only Jamaica, but to the Caribbean region.

A vice-president of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA), Dixon revealed that all 14 national federations in the region had pledged support for the Brazilian.

“A significant reason for this overwhelming support from the Caribbean nations as well as other national federations (NFs) within our confederation is the unquestionable support that Dr Graça has received from our confederation president Cristobal Marte de Hoffiz. Cristobal is like a father to all of us. We have seen a lot of development and development opportunities for all NFs within the North, Central America and Caribbean (NORCECA) Volleyball Confederation and this is borne on the back of the passion and commitment that Mr Marte has for volleyball. Given our respect and support of Cristobal, our support of Dr Graça candidacy is a natural corollary,” he explained.

Major Dixon will also use the opportunity to network with prominent national federations in support of the Jamaica Volleyball Association’s (JaVA’s) drive to transform the local game into a major sport in Jamaica.

“We have accepted that we are not going to be getting much funding support from the public purse at this time and yet we have a job to do. We will get the job done by all necessary means and networking with other NFs is a very important enabler,” the army man insisted.

Jamaica’s two head coaches for the national male and female teams are currently in Brazil undergoing development and exposure training from September 15-October 2. This opportunity resulted from networking initiated when Dixon attended the 2010 World Volleyball Congress in Italy.

Also arising out of that trip was a similar two-week coaching development activity when Steve Davis, who is involved in coaching volleyball from the primary to national levels, was sent to Calgary University in Canada in February, 2011.