U-21 volleyball coach happy with confidence booster

Coach of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Under-21 male volleyball team Vance Andrews holds the view that his charges are better served following their experience last week at the NORCECA Continental final in Gatineau, Canada.

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) finished sixth when they defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21) in their last outing.{{more}}

Before that, the Vincentians had gone winless in the previous matches, losing 3-0 to Barbados, Canada and the USA, and 3-1 versus Barbados, when the two squared off for the fifth and sixth places.

SVG also picked up an individual accolade, as Marcus Thomas was named the Best Blocker in the tournament.

Andrews is of the view that as the tournament progressed, the team got better, noting they were the least experienced of the lot and short on tall players.

“One of our aims in the tournament was that we were not going to come last and this we achieved,” Andrews noted.

He pointed to the fact that in SVG’s debut appearance in the Continental final in 2012 in the USA, they lost all matches and failed to win a set.

According to Andrews, part of the improvement in the team’s performance this time around was their adjustment to the conditions in Gatineau, including the temperature and the smoothness of the court.

“It is just the adjustment to the conditions… It was a condition this team was not really accustomed to…

“The floor was not the type of floor we are accustomed to playing on and they were finding problems in moving on the floor….They were slipping at the beginning and the stadium was cold…. It took them a lot of time to get warm and to get going,” Andrews reported.

SVG, unlike their opponents, does not have an indoor facility.

He also thumbed the factor of not having had practice matches before going to Canada, which extended the settling down period.

Andrews lamented as well that the team was robbed of two of its better and taller players, because of an administrative kink.

But looking on the bright side, with several players still below the age of 18, Andrews stated: “There is a good future in this team, as the experience now going there and taking part in a competition of a higher level, it is for them to take it to the next level.”

SVG reached the Continental final by virtue of winning the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Youth Tournament held in St Maarten.(RT)