Coaches motivated to be part of the NORCECA Women’s
Championship
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, October 7, 2019.-
The coaches of the eight participating teams are motivated
to be part of the biennial NORCECA Women’s Volleyball
Continental Championship to take place at the Roberto
Clemente Coliseum of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The top three ranked teams at the end of the competition,
except USA already qualified to Tokyo 2020 and Dominican
Republic qualified thru the NORCECA Championship Cup, will
qualify to the NORCECA Final Four Olympic Qualification
Tournament to be held next January.
Benjamin Josephson, Head Coach of Canada:
“We are as prepared as we can be, we had a really great
training block at our training center in Richmond and the
girls are excited to get back together after a small break
from Olympic qualifier in August, practicing for a little
bit more than three weeks. I’ve been with the team as
assistant coach for the summer block and now I’m in charge
as our head coach is with his university team in Georgia. We
expect the team to play hard, communicate well and have fun.
This is an important part of our journey to be in the
Olympics; the goal is to win a spot for the tournament in
January”.
José Miguel Briceño, Head Coach of Costa Rica:
“We are coming to gain experience; this is a new process
with U23 players, with an average of 20 years old. The
tournament will be helpful for Costa Rica’s volleyball
future. The senior players have been practicing for eight
months and the under 23 that recently won the AFECAVOL
championship have been preparing longer”.
Tomás Fernández Arteaga, Head Coach of Cuba:
“We are in a development period; this is a process that
started last year with our goal on the Central American
Games Panama 2022, so we are bringing our youngest players
and because we aren’t part of this Olympic cycle. The
players will be evaluated because we want the twenty four
players that are part of the project, to be in their best
condition for Panama 2022. The tournament well be of great
level and it will be of great use for our development”.
Marcos Kwiek, Head Coach of Dominican Republic:
“The year has and still is tough; we went from one
competition to another and the team has performed well this
season. We played long and strong tournaments, such as
Nations League and World Cup were demanding. The players are
in great health. I hope we stay focused for this continental
championship and the most important event of all, the final
Olympic qualifier. It’s been a good year, the results have
been important as a team and none of the individual
performance’ has been outstanding; we have worked well and
we have gained a lot as a team. Every tournament is
different and we aim to play at a great level”.
Gabriela Alarcón, Head Coach of Mexico:
“This is a great challenge, I normally coach the youth
categories of the men’s national teams and the girls have
received me well. We have worked with great coordination and
committed to qualify for the final four tournament for the
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Mexico brings a team with
experienced players: Andrea Rangel that plays here in Puerto
Rico and is in good shape, Samantha Bricio with a long
trajectory in Europe and has a small shoulder injury but in
conditions to play, and Ivonne Martinez who was the best
setter in college and already signed to play in Hungary. We
have a combination of U20 and U18 players. They are eager to
play despite that we needed some more time to play”.
José Mieles, Head Coach of Puerto Rico:
“Playing in Puerto Rico is always good, with our people, our
family, our fans; and at the emblematic Roberto Colemente
Colisium is even more special where we’ve had great results.
We hope that the seventh player (the crowd) will be an
important part in our result. After a summer of many
competitions, now we have the best talent available in the
team, with veteran players such as Karina Ocacio, Diana
Reyes, Shirley Ferrer. The entire group has been practicing
over two weeks together and we’ve set short term, medium
term and long term goals; the most important one: winning a
spot in the final four. All the opponents are strong; we
must be cautious and play every match seriously”.
Sean Morrison, Head Coach of Trinidad and Tobago:
“For us it’s more development; most of our senior players
took a break from this tournament (only two are here), so
it’s actually an U20 and U17 team. This is a very young and
inexperienced team, we are in process. Fletcher is here, she
was part of the World Championship team last year and the
libero also has experience, she was part of the world
qualification in 2005 and she’s back to play after finishing
a master’s degree. It’s been a little more than six months
of practice and we want to get a better game level and keep
competing at NORCECA level”.
Karch Kiraly, Head Coach of United States:
“It has been a really strong season for the USA, we’ve had
great competition in Nations League, Pan Am Cup, Olympic
Qualifier and World Cup, so we are very excited to finish
strong less than 12 months away from Tokyo 2020. Every hour
that we get together will count and be important for a great
2020. We expect great and hard play from every opponent and
we are excited for the chance to be finishing the year with
our Continental Championship. We know great teams are here,
for instance Dominican Republic has improved and playing
strong volleyball this year. We are fortunate and grateful
to have our players in good health”.