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ST JOHN’S, Antigua, May 7, 2016 - The East Caribbean Volleyball
Association Female Youth (Under 18) Competition is now all set
and ready to go later today after the teams completed their
Preliminary Inquiry and the organizers held a Technical Meeting.
It is a shortened version since only four teams (St. Lucia, St.
Martin, St. Eustatius and host country Antigua) are competing in
this category but the spirits of the teams present are not
dampened. Most of them are brimming with confidence that victory
will be in their hands at the end of the tournament.
Coach Jean Luc Lizan of St. Martin is relying on his
well-prepared team to be in the finals and pull off a victory.
“We came here well prepared and we have won in this category
before so I expect my girls to be in the finals and that victory
will be ours”, he intimated.
Rosalie Lewis coach of Antigua and Barbuda referred to the fact
that the Antiguan girls are just coming off of an island wide
school competition and the girls are already in competition
mode.
“We had enough time to select the best girls from that
competition and put them into training. I am pretty confident
that my girls will surprise many when the dust is settled at the
end,” she beamed.
St. Lucia is maintaining true St. Lucian spirits and they have
come with “Lucia Pressure” even at this level. This came from
former national senior female team player Samatha Reid who is
now the coach of the St. Lucia U 18 team.
“Although this team is mainly comprised of a new crop of players
involved in their debut competition, I have faith in them that
they will do well. We recently held our schools’ competition and
most of them played in the finals of that competition so they
are not completely new to competition,” She admitted.
Subi Subi Subi was the chant coming from the St. Eustatius camp.
It is a Dutch creole term for attack or hit. Coach Suyne Robin
indirectly hinted that they were the underdogs but was
absolutely clear in indicating that they were here to compete.
“We have been training for over a year now and the girls know
exactly what to do, so once they remain composed and calm we
will execute and make it difficult for the opponents. It not
going to be easy for them” she promised.
The opening game of the competition sees St. Lucia pitted
against St. Eustatius, while the host team Antigua and Barbuda
takes on St. Martin to complete the first round. |
