Next NORCECA Congress will be in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

TIJUANA, Mexico, November 3, 2013 – The next NORCECA Congress will be in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in October 2015.

The delegates voted enthusiastically in favor of the famous tourist region for the biennial meetings, which was the only candidature submitted in the last session of the two-day general assembly that gathered together delegates from 40 National Federations and Territories.

The presentation of the Dominican Republic’s candidacy was made by Jose Aybar, vice president of the Dominican Volleyball Federation.

The region of Punta Cana in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic hosted the 2005 and 2011 NORCECA Congress. It was also the site of the FIVB and Board of Administration meetings in 2009.

The delegates also approved two new age-group categories starting in 2014: The U-15 and U-23 Championships.

The representatives of the VIS and Statistics, Media, Medical, Technical and Development commissions made summarized reports of the activities of their respective areas for the past two years. They are Judith Sandino, Roosevelt Comarazamy, Victor Figueroa, Ariel Sainz and Mushtaque Mohammed.

Then Saul Castro Verdugo, president of the Sport Organizing Commission, made a compared report about the increase of the number of countries who hosted events over the last two years.

The number of countries grew up to 25 for a 59 percentage of the totality of the NF affiliated to NORCECA. He pointed out that in the past the circle of countries willing to be hosts was reduced to only five.

It was also announced that Wilbur Harrigan of Antigua and Warrenton Dixon of Jamaica, were selected as new members of the NORCECA Board of Administration.

On Saturday, the members of the Finance, Beach Volleyball, Legal and Refereeing commissions presented their respective reports before the Congress, the highest authority in the structure or NORCECA.

During the Congress the National Federations of Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and Saint Lucia were recognized for their outstanding performance while hosting events and developing the sport in their countries.

Also Jacques Joachim and Edgar Alvarado, of Haiti and Costa Rica, received the FIVB Silver Collar for outstanding services to the sport. It was also designated a high commission which will travel to Cuba to present the Golden Collar to Eugenio George Laffita, who couldn’t attend due to delicate health.

The XXII NORCECA Congress was attended by four confederation’s president along with the FIVB President Dr. Ary   Graça which was an unprecedented fact in the history of FIVB.

Dr. Saleh Bin Nasser of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, president of Asian Confederation, Dr. Amr Elwani of Egypt, president of African Confederation, Dr. Rafael Lloreda Currea of Colombia, president of South American Confederation, and Cristobal Marte Hoffiz of Dominican Republic, president of NORCECA, all attended the two-day meetings.

At the conclusion of the meetings, the delegates took part in the opening ceremony of the new FIVB-NORCECA Regional Development Center located at the Baja California High Performance Center in Tijuana.