Female volleyballers off on World Championships mission

St Vincent and the Grenadines senior female volleyballers will venture into new territory when they face El Salvador, the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands this weekend in St Croix, in Pool K of the second round of the NORCECA Zone of the World Championships qualifiers.{{more}}

The Nikita Campbell led team left on Tuesday for Barbados to obtain the necessary visas to travel to the US dependency. Also included in the team are Bretisha Gregg, Krystal Ralph, Andean Spring, Shaquille Brancker, Shannique deShong, Bownie Allicott, Ladonna Woodley, Pranka Williams and Junette Young.

Coach of the local team Shaun Young confidently told SEARCHLIGHT: “This is St Vincent and the Grenadines’ first opportunity to play top regional teams….We have been comfortable with the team playing in the region and this opportunity to participate at a higher level is welcomed”.

Young said he is happy with the growth of his charges.

“… We bought them from the Grassroot programme which was hosted by the National Olympic Committee back in 2006 and this is the reaping of rewards of that programme, where we are able to have a full national team of confident players who have been seasoned since 2010”.

After qualifying for the second phase of the World Championships, when they placed second to St Lucia last year, the Vincentian women went full into training last January, and according to Young, they have “grown by leaps and bounds”.

In zooming in on the team’s preparations, Young said: “We have worked on certain weak areas, which were the reception, as well as basic team spirit and team work… We have had the assistance of a Brazilian coach, Cafu (Joao Jorge de Campos), who worked on these girls three times a week and we also had classroom sessions and theoretical sessions, where we pushed on life style, social problems, and things other than volleyball”.

Young acknowledged that his team is the lowest team in the pool, but believes they have what it takes to overcome their opponents.

In the pool, St Vincent and the Grenadines is ranked 26th among the women in the latest NORCECA table, while the USVI is ranked 11th, El Salvador – 17th and the British Virgin Islands –25th.(RT)