Belize Challenging for Medals at Youth Volleyball Tournament
The under twenty-one Central American Female Volleyball Championship is underway in Belize City at the SCA Gymnasium. Belize is hosting the regional competition which ends on Saturday night. Team Belize has played Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala and won one of those four games. We spoke with Allan Sharp of the Volleyball Association of Belize about the championship and Belize’s performance so far.
Allan Sharp, President, Volleyball Association of Belize
“So far Costa Rica has a four-zero record; at least they haven’t lost one yet. Guatemala who is supposed to be the next favorite lost yesterday to Nicaragua but Costa Rica beat Nicaragua today. Honduras has been doing well, so I think there is a lot of parity in the competition. Last night Belize took Costa Rica to five sets. We had a great, great opportunity. The girls played fantastic, so I think there is a lot of parity at this level. The most difficult thing is to keep your energy and emotions up because they have two matches per day which is a new format that they are experimenting with and to be up twice for a day can be very difficult.”
Allan Sharp
Andrea Polanco
“Overall, how is Belize performing?”
Allan Sharp
“Well, like I said, we lost three to one against Honduras which was a very strong team; notwithstanding, the girls played very well in front of the home crowd. Then we won against El Salvador yesterday morning three sets to one – definitely playing well; playing in tune. Last night was an excellent match for those who were not here, they really missed out on a lot of excitement because we went to five sets with the perpetual champion in Central America. At the moment we are playing Guatemala.”
Andrea Polanco
“How is this match going?”
Allan Sharp
“We are playing one of the strongest teams in the tournament. We have lost the first two sets but that is why we play five sets. We finish up tomorrow night. Belize plays two teams tomorrow; Nicaragua and Panama. Belize plays the final match tomorrow at twelve-thirty and then they play seven-thirty the final match of the tournament, followed by award ceremonies.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, at this time, is Belize out of the competition?”
Allan Sharp
“No. No. Not at all. Like I said, there is a lot of parity. Whether we win or lose against Guatemala, we are still in the medal run but right now the team in first is Costa Rica. It will be hard to take them out of the medal run, but Guatemala has lost one and Honduras plays later today; so we have to see what that turns out to be. But Belize is not out of it for sure, but we have to make sure that we win the other matches.”
