Belize Volleyball Makes History; National Teams Qualify for NORCECA

Belize Volleyball continues to make history. It has arguably become one of the most successful sports in the country to bring international recognition and placements. Today, word spread like wildfire that the under-nineteen males and the under-twenty-one females have qualified to the Continental Volleyball Championships. It comes on the heels of the recent Central American Championship performances and the program development for both teams. It is the first time that the Belize Volleyball has qualified to this level in the underage category. It’s an exciting moment for the volleyball community as the male team will head to Guatemala City to complete in the NORCECA U-nineteen male volleyball championship next month, from March thirteenth to the eighteen. And then the females will travel in May to Mexico for the U-twenty-one female volleyball championship in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Today, the media spoke with Belize Volleyball Association President Allan Sharp about qualifying for this new level of play for the country and the athletes.

Allan Sharp

Allan Sharp, President, Belize Volleyball Association

“The reason this is so huge is because in each tournament, there are only eight teams and Belize is one of eight in all of North America. That is from Canada down to Panama and Trinidad – all the countries – we are one of the eight. And so, we have moved up to a new level of playing a new level of competition. We are so happy because our teams have been working so hard, they have been doing so well at the tournaments and having done well at the tournaments is what has gained us these ranking points to now have qualified for the tournaments. As far as playing in those tournaments, we have to realise that we are playing against the big countries, but that’s why we play the game. Our players are going to be the same age as their players, our players have been growing and getting better each time; we are at that technical level – that’s why so many of our athletes are going on scholarships because they are at that level. So we know that they can compete. We don’t see any reason why we cannot do extremely well against those teams. The ranking point system is a wild mathematics, but that said, whenever you go to these tournaments, you gain a lot more ranking points than you do in a Central American tournament, no matter where you place. What it does for gaining ranking points is, first and foremost, you get more chances of getting help and assistance from the FIVB and NORCECA. Second is you gain ranking points means that the future teams that come after you are basically using those points to have an opportunity. So it is almost like once you start to do well, it kinda snowballs once you continue to stay at a high level in playing.”