At a tender 23 years, Channon Thompson is already an eight-year veteran as a professional volleyball player.

The Trinidad and Tobago native, who packs an explosive jump serve, put her wide array of skills on full display as she topped all the other players from the eight nations that participated in the CAZOVA Senior Women Championships, which ended at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston, Jamaica, last Monday.

Thompson received three individual awards — Best Server, Best Outside Hitter, and Most Valuable Player — as she guided her country to their sixth-straight title and seventh overall in the Caribbean’s top women’s volleyball tournament.

Thompson, despite her dominant performance during the six day championships, was surprised to be named tournament MVP.

“I didn’t expect to get it. I wasn’t the top scorer in the last match and so I thought that someone else would have got it, but it was a pleasant surprise,” she admitted.

Success for her has come in part due to time spent developing the different aspects of her personal game.

“Generally, I work on all aspects of my game, but this year I spent more time focusing on my service, so I am really happy to be able to see some of the fruits of my labour with regards to that. Passing is another area I focus on because it is important to have good reception, not just for yourself, but your middles and your setter to have more options in terms of spiking; so it’s important to work on each element of the game at different points in time,” she explained.

The powerfully built athlete used her jump serve to good effect to score a lot of points, as the receivers struggled to return her serve. This is an area of her game she began working on shortly after joining the national senior team years ago.

“I liked it (jump serve), and when I started training my coach, Francisco Cruz, asked me if I wanted to try. The captain of the national team at the time jump served and I thought it was cool, so when I was asked to try I said ‘yes’ — and since then I have been jump serving,” Thompson said.

The jump serve is quite pleasing to the eye, especially when executed well, but it is for effect more than anything else why the star player indulges in one of the most difficult skills of the game.

“I don’t do it because it looks good,” she said with a smile, while admitting that the serve comes with a certain amount of risk. “It is more effective in gaining a direct point for your team… you stand a fifty-fifty chance and you just have to go with confidence after you put in the work and just go for it. I just like it.”

Clearly not lacking in confidence, Thompson says her spiritual beliefs and hard work are two of the main reasons for her success on the court.

“My belief in God is paramount to me, and then I do believe in hard work, in putting in the time and then you will be able to see the fruits of your labour — and that gives me the self-confidence that I need,” she noted.

While she is clearly at the top of the pile in the region, it was a huge risk to start her professional career at only 15 years old, but even back then she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

“When I completed my secondary school education at St Joseph’s in San Fernando, I was playing for the national team in junior tournaments and some senior tournaments as well. And I began to get the attention from some coaches as well as professional clubs, and I had the option to go to college and play there or to start my professional career.

“Pro volleyball was always something that I wanted to do, I always had the passion for it. I knew that would be my career so when I had the opportunity to start at that age, I seized it,” Thompson said.

Her first opportunity to play as a professional came at the club Azs Bialystok in Poland.

“I was a little nervous but more excited than anything, and happy to seize the opportunity. Being so young I had my mom stay with me for a month as well as my teammate Sinead Jack who was sixteen at the time. We spent two and a half years playing for Azs Bialystok,” she shared.

The sport of volleyball is expanding in Trinidad and Tobago, much to the delight of Thompson who hopes that her country can claim a spot at the World Championships next year when they host the final round of qualification in October.

“Volleyball is a growing sport in Trinidad and Tobago; it’s not number one but we are beginning to see the growth and the increase in interest from the population, so it’s on the rise.

“The World Championship qualifiers will be in October and we will be hosting it. First or second will get us a straight ticket there, so that is definitely the goal,” she noted.