Preparation in Full Swing for the U-19 National Volleyball Men Team
The NORCECA U-nineteen male Continental Volleyball Championship takes place in just about a week and a half, from March thirteenth to the eighteenth, in Guatemala. The twelve athletes have been selected and will travel with the coaching delegation, an international referee and team manager on March eleventh. News Five caught up with the team as they trained at the Belize Elementary School Gymnasium on Wednesday night. Here’s a report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
They’ve been training for some time, but after the news broke that Belize’s U-nineteen national male volleyball team was chosen to participate in the highest level of volleyball to date, the preparation became more intense. Among the instructors is National Team Coach Albert Humes.
Albert Humes
Albert Humes, Coach, Belize National Volleyball Team
“Biggest in we life so far at this level. Right now the preparation is going well. Fortunately, most of the guys are from the city; that is really helping us to be together. We are short of one player cause he is from PG but that’s what we are working with.”
Duane Moody
“Talk to us about what the workout plan is looking like as we getting closer.”
Albert Humes
“Right now, as we’re getting closer, we are trying to do more game situations because we don’t have the amount of practice matches to go abroad, we have to among the senior guys, we train the team to try to prepare for the other teams. But we are getting there.”
Nicanor Requeña is one of the athletes who will be representing the country on the national team. He says that the training sessions have been intense, but the team is ready.
Nicanor Requeña
Nicanor Requeña, Setter, U-19 National Men Volleyball Team
“It’s been a rigorous preparation. We’ve trained on the weekends, during the week; it’s been very rigorous, training until nine o’clock in the night. But we are all very excited. We are very pumped and honoured that we have this opportunity to represent Belize at the highest level and to be one of the first youth teams to make it, it is an esteemed honour for all of us.”
The delegation departs Belize on March eleventh.
Allan Sharp
Allan Sharp, President, Belize Volleyball Association
“We are flying them over to Guatemala. They have a day there to do all the meetings that they have to do, plus they get a day to do a practice on the court itself and then begins the tournament.”
…and while it’s the first time that Belize is competing at this level, the fact is that Team Belize will be playing against some of the best athletes in their age bracket from the region, including the U.S. So what’s the anticipation?
Allan Sharp
“The whole reason we get to go there is because we had to have beat certain people; we have to be playing at a certain level to even get there. So yes, we know we are going to go against big guys, but that’s why they play the game. It is the same size ball, it is the same age athlete, it is the same size court – same height and net – so it is about getting it done.”
Nicanor Requeña
“Facing off against the bigger teams, we know that we’re gonna be the underdogs so we gotta push, we gotta play hard defence, we gotta stay low to the ground and we gotta be ready for anything – get some hits placed on our chest, might just be what pulls us a win. But we are aiming to perform very well. Everybody is excited and ready to leave everything on the court.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
