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AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico, August 10, 2021. -
Coaches of the seven teams competing at the U23
Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup have their
minds set on qualifying to the Junior Pan
American Games to be held in Cal, Colombia from
November 25 to December 5.
The tournament that offers four tickets to Cali
starts on Wednesday at the Olympic Gymnasium in
Aguascalientes and concludes on Sunday.
Carlos Quesada (Costa Rica):
“Despite many restrictions we have worked a lot,
since March and we are here to give a great
performance, with our eyes on qualifying to Cali.
Each player knows their role in the team and the
group is really tight, with our goal set, not
thinking as an individual player but as Costa
Rica”.
Cristian Cruz (Assistant Coach Dominican
Republic):
“Our preparation was good despite the pandemic,
some of our players here competed at the U20
FIVB World Championship which prepared the well
and we also had six practice games against
Colombia’s senior team that was in Santo
Domingo. Our first goal is to qualify to the
Games in Cali and our main goal is to continue
to dominate this age-group; we’re here to defend
our title, we have won all the editions of the
Pan American Cup and we have all the
possibilities to win this one as well”.
David Aldana (Guatemala):
“The preliminary round will be tough; we are all
looking to qualify to Cali and we will put up a
fight, we’re coming only with 10 players that
will give their best. This competition will be a
test for players who are being considered for
our senior team. This age-group covers several
ages, we might find players that haven’t been in
actions and that’s why we don’t know much about
our opponents”.
Luis León (Mexico):
“From the beginning qualifying to Cali will be
in dispute, our goal is to move further than
semifinals. The team is well adapted despite
having a short time together, the girls see the
tournament as a challenge, and they want to make
the best out of this opportunity”.
José Ricardo Guinand (Puerto Rico):
“We are presenting an under 18 team that will be
part of the final U18 roster that will be
competing in September at the FIVB World
Championship, these are players between the ages
of 15 and 16 year old. It’s a young group with a
lot of energy and we want to see on court if
what we’ve been doing in practice is effective
and we want them to gain international
experience because this is their first time
competing internationally”.
Eric Aikman (Suriname):
“We have prepared for some time, under the
circumstances it was a good preparation. I
expect that the girls will play at a good level,
knowing that the level here is higher of what we
are used to because we only play in the
Caribbean zone and this is the next step for us.
We are going to do our best to live up to the
level of the tournament”.
Darlene Ramdin (Assistant Coach Trinidad and
Tobago):
“The team just started training; they’ve been
together for two weeks now because of the
pandemic restrictions in Trinidad, so I want
them to perform the best that they can. In the
preliminary round I expect the team to win
against Suriname, they are our Caribbean
opponent and we know each other well at junior
and senior levels”. |
