Dominican Republic and Panama to open NORCECA Women’s

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, September 11, 2011 – Defending champions Dominican Republic squares off against Panama in the opening match of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship a nine-team competition from September 12-17 at Hector Sola Bezares Coliseum with a seating capacity for 7,000 spectators.

The opening day of the tournament where the winner will qualify to the FIVB World Cup next November in Japan also features the matches of Canada against Trinidad and Toago and hosts Puerto Rico versus Costa Rica.

The general technical meeting took place on Sunday night at Four Points Hotel in Caguas, 21 kilometers to the south of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.

The coaches of the nine teams expressed their opinions and commented on their team’s goals before the start of the meeting. Here follows the excerpts of their statements:

Arnd Ludwig (Canada): “It is important that we keep improving. We want to play better than in our last tournament. The team is well prepared physically and our goal is to go to the semifinals.”

Braulio Godinez (Costa Rica):  “We had the illusion of a better presentation than the one of the Pan American Cup now that we have Verania Willis back with us. But unfortunately we lost Karen Cope due to the death of her mother last Thursday and the absence of our regular setter Dionisia Thompson for work reasons. We plan to give the chance to play to some young players including the second setter Irene Fonseca. It will be a good opportunity for her.”

Juan Carlos Gala (Cuba): “We have prepared very well for this tournament and we are going after the qualification to the World Cup which is the main objective. The playing court will have the last word.”

Marcos Kwiek (Dominican Republic): “This is one of the most important events for us in our calendar. The team has worked real well since our return from the Grand Prix. We know we will have very strong opponents trying to qualify to the World Cup. It won’t be different for us because we are in the same position and it is a most important competition for the rest of the year.”

Mario Herrera (Mexico): “We added some players from the U-18 team and also have two setters with experience in Daniela Lloreda, who played in the Puerto Rican League, and Nancy Ortega. The new players are Samantha Bricio, Alejandra Isiordia and Andrea Rangel and they have good level. At the Pan American Cup we learned where we were and then we had time to modify our training plan.”

Reynaldo Ortega (Panama): “The team is very satisfied of qualifying to this tournament. It has been 25 years since the last time Panama took part in a NORCECA women’s event. The girls are focused and well prepared physically and psychologically and will give their best during the competition.”

David Aleman (Puerto Rico): “The team has been training very hard in preparation for this NORCECA because all the teams are bringing their best players trying to qualify to the World Cup. We are prepared for a quite difficult tournament.”

Francisco Cruz (Trinidad and Tobago): “We have had some injury problems with certain players and also some difficulties with the training program. We didn’t train enough time and that’s going to have its effects in the team’s performance. Nevertheless, the athletes are motivated and that is positive. I hope they give their best despite these difficulties.”

Hugh McCutcheon (United States): “We are excited and ready to compete at the NORCECA Championship. Obviously our goal is to qualify for the FIVB World Cup. We have been working hard this summer to improve as a team and this tournament gives us another opportunity to do that. I think our athletes have earned the right to stand out there against anyone in the world and feel like they can win.”