Historic climax of Norceca Beach tour serves off in Tobago

COURLAND, Tobago, November 13, 2014 - The 2014 season of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit will conclude from today with the historic staging of the tenth and final leg at the scenic Turtle Beach, Black Rock Heritage Park, Courland, Tobago from Friday November 14 until Sunday November 16.

This will be the second straight season the tour will be ending in Trinidad and Tobago, but the first time on the sister-island having done so last year at Maracas Bay, also in Trinidad.

The double gender tournament will also feature a record number of teams for Trinidad and Tobago, 41 in total, comprising 24 men and 17 women.

The host country, T&T will provide the bulk of those teams, six in the men led by 2012 T&T-leg bronze medal winners Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield and the top women’s pair of Ayana Dyette and Nancy Joseph among three women's pairs.

The men will compete in six pools of four teams each while the women will battle it out in three groups of four and one pool of five.

While the top men and women local pairs will be eager to impress ahead of their departure for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Veracruz, Mexico next week, the main attraction in Tobago will no doubt be the Canadian men’s team of Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter, silver medal winners at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in Doha, Qatar on Sunday after securing gold a week earlier at the Parana Open in Argentina.

The Canadian duo who won on home soil in North Bay, along with countrymen Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton will also have their eye set on securing a top three spot in the 22-men’s team tournament which will cement their hold on the overall top rankings.

The Canadians men’s players have so far tallied 1,540 points, but will need to keep a close eye on USA (1,480) and Puerto Rico (1,440) in the hunt for the top spot.

Speaking on the eve of the tournament, Mushtaque Mohammed, President of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) and head of the Control Committee for the tournament said  as a federation NORCECA was very happy to see the infrastructure being put in place for the tournament which is being staged on the island for the first time.

“Everything is in place so far with three playing courts and two warm-up pitches. This is a also new territory for the T&T Volleyball Federation as well and we are all looking forward to the host putting on a good tournament to make it an annual fixture on the international schedule.

Daymian Stewart, president of the T&TVF added, “Like, Mohammed, We are very proud to bring the tournament to Tobago with the help of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) which has been very supportive.

“It’s a new relationship between the THA and us at the T&TVF and we are understanding each other well so far as we are all in agreement that this type of tournament is ideal for Tobago in terms of Sports Tourism and we are all hoping to make it a main stay on the Norceca calendar.”