Lyssons Primary wins Jamaican School Tournament

KINGSTON, Jamaica, December 9, 2014 - Lyssons Primary from St Thomas became the first school to repeat as champions of the JaVA Phillip Greenland Developmental Volleyball Championship after defeating the 2011 champions, Unity Primary from Westmoreland 39-17 in the National Finals, played at Wolmers High School for Girls on Saturday 6 December 2014.

Lyssons went undefeated all season, copping their parish championship for the fifth consecutive time, and came into the National Finals as favorites.  They won all six matches in Group A of the preliminary round and squeezed past the Kingston and St Andrew champions 16-15 in their quarterfinal match. They remained undaunted by a determined Chantilly Primary, getting by them 34-24 in their semifinal.

Unity, on the other hand, placed fourth in their parish competition and was also in Group A in the preliminary round. They advanced to the quarterfinals as the second placed team from that group and defeated their parish runner-up team, Little London, 17-11 to book their spot in the semifinals, where they showed grit and determination to edge out an equally talented Inverness Primary, the St Ann two-time champions, 27-25.

Inverness recovered to take third place with a 19-13 victory over Chantilly.

For the individual awards, Radjae Reid of Lyssons was adjudged the Championship MVP and Javin Williams of Unity received the President’s Madd Skills Award.

Major Warrenton Dixon, JaVA’s School Development Manager, had high praises for all the children and coaches who participated in the competition overall. 

“This year I saw teams fail to advance to their parish-level knock out round although they were playing higher quality volleyball than some teams that qualified to the knock out round of the National Finals in previous years,” he said. “At all stages this year, I can unequivocally state that the quality of play is the highest I have seen in any prior year.”

Major Dixon commented on the reasons for the improvements.

“I chalk this improvement down to the following reasons: Our encouragement to the schools to include grades 3-6 students in their program to allow for continuity; the experience gained by the coaches over the years; and JaVA’s continued effort, with the support of NORCECA Volleyball Confederation, to provide the coaches with technical guidance from local and international coaches.”