SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, May 7, 2017.- All nine coaches of the teams competing at the Women’s U20 Pan American Cup expect tough days ahead as only two teams – the top ranked Norceca and top South American team – will be granted a berth to the FIVB age-group World Championship in Boca del Rio and Cordoba, Mexico.

The first days of competition will be no easy task to survive and move into quarterfinals to continue the quest to be in the FIVB World Championship, as coaches remarked on the eve of the competition.

Argentina, Guillermo Caceres This is an important competition; it always has been, with experienced teams. We will do the impossible to qualify to the world championship. According to the tournament, we are well prepared; we came to the city of Cartago to adapt to the weather and schedule; we played with Costa Rica’s senior team and other local teams.

Chile, Eduardo Guillaume We played a friendly series against Dominican Republic which allowed us to improve a lot. If teams could have the chance of competing more, they would evolve at a higher level; playing marks a difference. This team is different from the youth team; it’s harder to gather the players for practice because they study in college. The team is ready to battle.

Costa Rica, Mario Romero It’s an honor to host a competition of this level and we welcome all the teams. It doesn’t matter the tournament, we always play with responsibility and we always give our best. We know it’s a competitive event, with the best teams of the continent and Costa Rica will be looking to advance into the next round.

Cuba, Wilfredo Robinson Our ambition is to win the ticket to the world championship, as all the teams here. This is the same team that played the Norceca championship in United States, we haven’t had much practice since then, we haven’t played any other tournament, but our desire to be in the world championship is strong. Our players are young and the event contributes to their growth as players. 

Dominican Republic, Wagner Pacheco This is a new generation of players from the one who won the world championship. We are already qualified to worlds, but our responsibility here remains the same, our goal is to win. This tournament is a good chance to measure our game level because one of my players is coming out of an injury, one is injured and we lost our opposite player. The preliminary round will be very hard, we are in the same pool that United States and Argentina, both are looking to qualify to worlds and for me they are among the favorites to win the Pan Am Cup.

Peru, Marco Queiroga We are expecting a highly competitive tournament, there are very good teams here and we are glad to be in this important event. This is the best team of its generation in the last years in Peru; physically and technically well built. They’ve earned a lot of experience in our national league and that’s why we are confident in winning the ticket to the world championship, as well as reaching the final stage here.

Puerto Rico, Julio Melendez Our goal is qualifying to the world championship for which we are well prepared; the girls are focused on this objective and have their minds set on doing so. Hopefully there will be no injuries and that way reach our goal.

United States, Jerritt Elliott It´s a big tournament for us. We have to get organized and see if we can get out of pool play; we got a very tough pool with Argentina and Dominican Republic. We welcome the opportunity and put our best foot forward.