DESPITE one of Jamaica’s marquee tourist attractions being its beaches, the island hasn’t been able to have a consistent beach volleyball programme. However, Jamaica Volleyball Association (JAVA) isn’t letting this stop it from pursuing qualification for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Beach volleyball, for men and women, was officially introduced at the Summer Games in 1996 and has seen significant growth since, with close to 40 different countries competing and an increase in attendance at the venues and viewership also seen, evidenced by sold out crowds at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris this summer.

However, Jamaica has never qualified for the tournament, coming closest in 2016 when they missed out on one ranking place in the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) region. In fact, Cuba and Puerto Rico are the only Caribbean countries to feature at the Olympics.

JAVA President Jacqueline Cowan told the Jamaica Observer that while Jamaica has an abundance of beaches, most are not equipped to facilitate the sport.

“We’ve hosted Olympic qualifiers and NORCECA tournaments in the past but at this point in time there’s only one beach that we’re able to put down three courts — and we need three courts to host any international tournaments,” Cowan said.

“A lot of the beaches are at hotels — and we can’t just go into a hotel and use their beach — plus, we can only facilitate one court, maybe two. At this point in time the only place that we can train on a consistent basis is G C Foster, so we have two courts there where we’re able to train. We have beaches, yes, but are they usable? No.”

Cowan says some of the alternative options are also not sufficient, due to varying reasons.

“There’s a facility in Montego Bay that they’re looking at putting in a court but it can only have one court, so to host [tournaments] we need to have at least two courts and a training court. There’s good sand at Port Royal but the wind out there is really prohibitive, especially in the afternoon, so those are the challenges we have,” she said.

However, Cowan, who is also vice-president of Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), says they’re putting plans in place to ensure that LA 2028 is a real possibility.

“We’ve already started that process,” she said. “Come October, we’ll be sending a male and female team to Punta Cana in Santa Domingo. Our Olympic cycle actually starts four years before an Olympics, so the road to 2028 has already started because all of your ranking points start from now all the way up to 2028.

“What we try to do is send our teams away, because to qualify for these other tournaments is by ranking systems so if you don’t participate in regional tournaments, you don’t get ranking points. Our aim is to go to as many of those as we possibly we can. In 2016 we missed going to the Olympics by one spot, so we know that we can get there — we just have to be able to participate. We’ve already spoken to the JOA, not only from an Olympic association perspective but from an international body where they’ll be sending coaches to assist in our preparation.”

Jamaica has competed in beach volleyball at various regional championships including NORCECA tournaments and Central American and Caribbean Games.