USA is playing in Puerto Rico but focusing in Japan 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 29, 2006.- USA will test new setter and libero during the Pan American Women’s Cup that begin here on Thursday, announced coach Lang Ping.

In her second year coaching the American Team, the former Chinese star announced that a new group of players from the college ranks will receive here the opportunity to learn how to deal with the pressure of the international competitions.

On the eve of the start of the tournament, most of the coaches adopted the position of “wait and see” and “playing one game at a time.”

However, the general feeling of those attending the meeting with the media was that the coaches of the big teams are focusing on the later part of the year and using the present as a laboratory to test new formulas.

Here is what the coaches said during the press conference: 

Paul Payne of Barbados: “This will be a learning experience for us and we are very fortunate to participate in this event and play against great teams.” 

Naoki Miyashita of Canada: “This is my first official competition as head coach and I hope we can have a good tournament. We have some new players and it is good that they are interested in joining the team.” 

Miguel Beato Cruz of Dominican Republic: “It is also my first opportunity at the Pan Am Cup. We are coming with a well prepared team but our goal is to play one match at a time and first to qualify for the next round.” 

Juan Carlos Nunez of Puerto Rico: “Last year we finished in the fifth position and that is the best we have done at the Pan American Cup. We are the host team and if the break comes we must take advantage of the chance to qualify for the Grand Prix.” 

Jose Guimaraes of Brazil: “I don’t want to make predictions but we have a good bunch of young players and three veterans. The opposition is very strong and let’s see how things develop during the tournament.” 

Carlos di Lonardo of Argentina: “It is my first chance to coach the Argentinean Team in the Pan American Cup. It is a young team but this will be a good opportunity for them to develop.” 

Carlos Aparicio of Peru: “Peru is making a come back to the international competition. Most of our players are veterans who recently joined the training camp after the European season. It is good to have veteran players but we also need to work with the young ones who stayed back in Peru.” 

Gineida Henriquez of Venezuela: “Our team is a young one and this is a good tournament for them mature. We are here to learn from the giants of volleyball.” 

Lang Ping of USA: “Our main focus is concentrated on the World Championships. We are going to test a new setter and a new libero. We have some players from the university ranks that need to get used to the international competitions. There is the importance of the Pan American Cup for us.” 

Braulio Godinez of Costa Rica: “We have been training hard but not playing that much for the past six months. The Pan American Cup will be an evaluation tournament for us. Here we are going to know if we have completed the tasks established when we started the road to Japan.” 

Marco Heredia of Mexico: “We are here to play against teams of high quality. My team is not in top shape but that does not mean we do not hope to finish among the top four.” 

Felipe Calderon of Cuba: “The goal is to qualify for next year Grand Prix. We know about the kind of competition we will be facing but we are going to give the best effort to qualify.”