SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico.- Nineteen Puerto Rican players -15 men and 4 women- will play in different professional leagues in Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland and Belgium this year.

“We are very happy with the amount of players that will be representing the island in different leagues,” said Carlos  Beltran, the President of the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation. “It situates our sport as the second sport with representatives in overseas.”

The European tournaments start at the end of September and finish in the latter weeks of April.

“The experience these players will get will be of a great value for our league and the National Teams,” said Beltran.

Three women –Sheila Ocasio, Yarleen Santiago and Karina Ocasio- will play in Italy and Tatiana Encarnacion will be in Spain.

Ten Puerto Ricans’ men will be performing in the Spaniard League. They are: Fernando Morales, Luis Jose Rodríguez, Mannix Roman, Gregorry Berrios, Alexis Matias, Jorge Alifonso, Malcom Nieves, Arcangel Ruiz, Ariel Rodriguez and Angel Ruiz.

Hector Soto and Joaquin Acosta will play in Italy, Jose Quinones in Switzerland, Carlos Luis Lopez in France and Victor Rivera in Belgium.