Teams of Both Genders Ready to Compete at Champions Cup

COLORADO SPRINGS, USA, August 21, 2019 – Coaches of the four women’s teams and four men’s teams competing at the NORCECA Champions Cup this week at the Olympic & Paralympic Training Center are looking forward to a high level of competition.

Shannon Windsor, Head Coach of Canada’s Women: “I feel pretty confident about the tournament. I think we have a pretty strong side that we’ve brought to this competition and we hope to qualify for the Olympic qualifier in January. I think we faced half of the U.S. team at Pan Am Games. We are familiar with a few of their players. We are anxious to see everyone play tomorrow night. I have no doubt every team except the U.S. is looking to secure a spot in January.”

Marcos Kwiek, Head Coach of Dominican Republic’s Women: “It will be a good tournament because we will play with Canada, USA and Puerto Rico. They are first-level teams. We expect to play at a high level. We have young players that we would like to train and evaluate to help advance our program.”

Oswald Antonetti, Assistant Coach of Puerto Rico’s Women: “Our women’s team is similar to the team they brought to the Pan Am Games and the qualification tournament in Poland. It should be nice to get these three games under their belt and compete. I believe they will compete well.”

Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Head Coach of the United States’ Women: “We have a mixture of some experienced players as well as newer players. We’re just excited about squad we have here. It is always a blessing to play on home soil. It’s a very rare opportunity. We’re just excited to play in front of a home crowd, use the home-court advantage and play some good volleyball this week.”

Ryan Marsden, Head Coach of Canada’s Men: “We’re feeling quite confident right now in how our training has gone. We have some pretty good focus, knowing what was on the line in coming here. Guys have been prepared and want to represent our country to the best of our abilities.”

Ariel Sainz Rodriguez, Head Coach of Cuba’s Men: “We always come into every tournament to win and also to enjoy competing against the other teams. But there is no other option than winning.”

Oswalt Antonetti, Head Coach of Puerto Rico’s Men: “We brought a younger group to this tournament. We have a pro league in the summer. Some of our players stayed to play in the playoffs of the Puerto Rican league. We brought a couple college players who are in the States. It is interesting. We plan on getting better and to compete.”

Matt Werle, Head Coach of the United States’ Men: “After about a week of training, I think we have hit full stride. A lot of these guys have not played together, so that has been our main focus. I’m impressed with what we’ve been doing in terms of serve receive. Our blocking has started to really pick up. This was a good day of training leading into tomorrow.”