Cristobal Marte announces 2006 Dominican Women’s Program 

SANTO DOMINGO, May 26, 2006.- No one will be better prepared for the FIVB World Championships in Japan this year than the women's team from the Dominican Republic. 

After taking part of the Third Olympiad  of Cuban Sport, the Dominican Republic will play competitions or hold training camps in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Colombia, France, Netherlands, Poland, Macau, Japan, Mexico and China. 

Finally, the Dominicans will hold a training base in Tokyo, Japan on October 23-29, playing against the Japan National Team and different teams from the Japanese Women’s League. 

The announcement was made today by Mr. Cristobal Marte, President of the Women’s National Program of the Dominican Republic Volleyball Federation, during a press conference at the headquarters of the organization. He also presented the financial report of the program for the years 2004 and 2005. 

During the first round of the World Championships, The Dominicans will compete in Pool B with giants China and Russia, as well as Germany, Mexico and Azerbaijan. 

On June 2-18, the Dominicans will train and play with the Brazilian National Team in preparation for the Pan American Cup, a qualifier for the World Grand Prix of the following year. 

After the Pan American Cup in Puerto Rico (June27-July 8), the team will be defending champions at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia (July 14-30). 

On August 1-7, the training will continue in Normandie, France playing against the French squad, before crossing to Amsterdam where they will meet the Netherlands Team on August 8-14. 

For the third consecutive year, the Dominicans will take part of the World Grand Prix, competing in the preliminary rounds in Poland, Macau and Japan against Poland, USA, Italy, China, Brazil and Japan on August 16-September 10. 

They will be back on American continent soil with the TV Azteca Cup in Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico on September 22-30, before flying back to Asia to participate of the World League in China against Cuba, Poland, Germany, Italy, Korea, China and Bulgaria. 

Mr. Marte also announced the participation of the U-18 Girls at the Youth Continental Tournament in Gainesville, Florida on July 25-30 and the U-20 Women at the Junior Continental Tournament in Monterrey, Mexico on July 29-August 6. 

The technical direction of the program is under the supervision of Professor Miguel Beato Cruz, who is the head coach of the Senior Women’s Team. He is assisted by Mr. Wilson Sanchez who is the head coach of the Junior Team while Mr. Enrique Larrazaleta is the head coach of the Youth Team. 

Other members of the technical staff are Mayo Sibilia, Marcelo Richiez, Victor Sepulveda, Altagracia Jimenez, Juan Capellan and Jonas Tayson. 

The members of the Medical Staff are doctors Andres Pina, Pedro Fernandez Zucco and Victor Figueroa along with psychologist Manuel Garcia and trainers Rolando Boza and Hugo Marte. 

In the Administrative Department are Professor Ricardo Arias as General Director and Arateide Caceres as Secretary and Carlos Guzman as co-ordinator.