Volleyball making giant-baby steps

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) senior men’s volleyball team did not light up the Continental Championships held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, recently.

On form and rankings, they were not expected to do so either. In fact, the Vincentian outfit was not even billed as winning a set, more so a match.

But against the odds, SVG was able to whip subregional powerhouses St Lucia: 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-15, to finish ninth in the 10-team championships.

Significantly, SVG, in essence, has derailed St Lucia, which has stood perched at the top of volleyball in the Eastern Caribbean for countless years.

The minor achievement of being the number one team on current standings in Eastern Caribbean volleyball Association (ECVA) is indeed big for not only SVG’s volleyball, but the entire sporting landscape.

And, though defeated by Mexico, Costa Rica and Martinique (twice), SVG did not come away disgraced, as for them there was more to gain from the outing.

The scores versus Mexico were 25-7, 25-16, 25-10, while against Costa Rica, it was 25-10, 25-19, 25-21 and they were beaten by Martinique 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 in their first meeting.

Martinique also had a 25-10, 25-14, 25-20 win over SVG in the play-off for the minor places.

Such statistics should be analysed beyond the mere results of four 3:0 losses.

To put the state of volleyball here into perspective, the recent achievements of the senior men’s outfit have come at a time when the national structure is once again going through a rebuilding phase.

Ironically though, the sport of volleyball on court is thriving on a group of young, fearless players, driven with a desire to achieve, in spite of the many limitations cornering them.

Hopefully, the emergence of the young bucks will engender and re-energize the relatively new set of administrators who are responsible for putting the stability blocks in place for volleyball here.

Apart from the current national men’s team and its youthful composition, there is a lot of raw material to work with, especially in the rural areas.

However, keeping these youngsters loyal and committed to the sport would take some doing.

Whilst at this juncture, they are all for volleyball, unless they see some more coming for them than the occasional travel and the plaudits for good performances, their desires can wane easily.

It means then that the national executive will have to devise methods to not only refresh the sport by maintaining the present cohort, but by recruiting new players.

This is necessary, as a simple eye test would reveal that the volleyball talent pool is almost negligible.

But no one, though, should expect youngsters would as a matter of course gravitate to volleyball in an instant.

Also, a revival of volleyball at the community level, coupled with a structured schools’ effort, can only be the best spike that volleyball can have at this time.

One has to keep the volleyball flames burning, and ensure that the sport does not relapse into a state inactivity, as was the case several years ago.

The plan of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Volleyball Association should be to serve, block, set and spike the sport to the top of the popularity ladder here.

Volleyball is making some baby footsteps, which are giant-like in the Vincentian context, and with the right plays and the administrators with that fervour, the sport can be soon making leaps.