Successful Cool Volley Festival in St. Lucia

Castries, St. Lucia, August 17, 2012 – The St. Lucia Volleyball Association, with significant support from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), hosted a Cool Volley Festival at the Sab Playing Field where some 9 primary schools participated in the first ever of this kind.

This program is part of the association’s strategy to introduce the game of volleyball to school children of primary school age.

After one month of pre event training conducted primarily by the newly appointed General Secretary of the Association, Wendell Jean Baptiste and some help from the Cuban volleyball expert Luis Oviedo from the Ministry of Youth Development and Sport, the children were ready to take the field.

The Cool Volley Festival was well attended. Some 48 student from grades 4th and 5th showed up in force to enjoy a day of fun and activity.

The goals of the Volleyball Association were met as students learned, through simple volleyball drills, the techniques of the game and it was clear that they also had the opportunity to develop and display the more important intangibles such as teamwork, discipline and problem solving skills.

From the number of beaming faces and positive comments from teachers, it was more than evident that Cool Volley is the wave of the future in primary school sports and volleyball development.

The St. Lucia Association is working assiduously to launch a primary school volleyball program in at least eight schools in the Castries Basin in September 2012 as it has already procured all the equipment to do so. Additional it is poised to launch a similar program in secondary schools.