Level One Volleyball coaches told to ‘spread the gospel’

The eighteen Vincentian coaches who were successful in gaining Level One certification, have been told to go and “ spread the gospel” of Volleyball.

This pronouncement came from president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Volleyball Association,Gary Matthias, as he addressed the closing ceremony of the Level One coaching course, that ended on June 12, 2024, at the Girls’ High School Hard Court.

Prior to handing over the successful coaches’ certificates, Matthias cautioned them to make use of the knowledge and their elevation as coaches.

“This is just one part of the process, the other part which, to me, is the more important part and like we say in church, you spread the gospel…you teach others…you make sure you adopt a community, a school, a club and teach what you have learnt during this course.”

Matthias lamented that Volleyball and other sporting disciplines have suffered from persons gaining certificates, yet doing little or nothing to make good on their knowledge and expertise.

“Don’t just get the certificate now [and] go home and brag about it… Go out there and be active in your community”, the SVGVA president implored.

Matthias noted that the timing of the Level One course fits into his organisation’s development thrust.

“This course is part of our overall development strategic plan [because] we really want to improve the number of coaches that we have and improve the participation of Volleyball in communities around St Vincent and the Grenadines”, Matthias related.

The course, which opened on Saturday June 8, 2024, at the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football

Federation’s Conference Room, saw five days of intense theoretical and practical sessions, under the guidance of Romanian-born FIVB Coach, Dan Girlenau.

Apart from the eighteen Vincentian coaches, one non-national, a Trinidadian who travelled to St Vincent and the Grenadines for the course, was also successful.