TT bid for regional v-ball

Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation’s president Mushtaque Mohammed will submit  an official bid to host the NORCECA 2005 Women Championships.

This bid will be submitted on Friday at the NORCECA’s Sports Organising Committee meeting which will be held in Atlanta, USA. Mohammed and the TTVF’s secretary Damien Stewart are the officials who will attend the NORCECA Congress which will be extended over Saturday and Sunday. The TTVF president has been assured of the Government official support to stage the region’s premier women indoor volleyball competition. Sports Director Kent Rennie informed Mohammed that the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs agreed to support the TTVF’s bid to host the competition in 2005. This is in keeping with the Government policy of Sports Tourism. Mohammed explained that even if the TTVF is successful in its bid to host the championships they would require the financial commitment to the tune of $800,000 to go ahead with staging the series.

Mohammed will attend the Board of Administrators meeting on Friday morning and the Sports Organising Committee session later in the day.  The bid will be discussed at the Sports Organising Committee meeting and the decision will be taken as to who gets the nod. The SOC decisions will be ratified at the NORCECA Congress session on Sunday. Mohammed feels that he would have been in a better and more confident position had there been financial guarantees from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. The TTVF successfully hosted the CAZOVA championships last year and was given financial support from the Ministry of Sport and other corporate sponsors and individuals. But the NORCECA Seniors is a much bigger attraction with teams like the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic having large contingent of followers travelling to support their respective teams.

The Jean Pierre Complex will have to be upgraded to host the Championships but the TTVF can also utilise the University of West Indies St Augustine campus modern Sports and Physical Education Centre (SPEC) which has adequate accommodation and first class changing rooms and facilities. Trinidad and Tobago junior women team, under the leadership of Aisha Sealy, retained the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) title which they recaptured in Suriname in 2001. Star player KellyAnn Billingy copped the “Most Valuable Player” and “Best Attacker” awards while Jenna Ferguson and Marina Camps collected the “Best Libero” and “Best Receiver” award respectively. Skipper Sealy and middle blocker Nadiege Honore were also outstanding but without the help of proper tournament statistics, they lost out in getting the nod for the top individual awards.

Honore and Sealy proved their worth at the NORCECA senior Women Championships which was held in Santo Domingo last month. It was the first time ever for a TT contingent and it was a late call as replacement for Barbados which had withdrawn just a month to the Championships date. Honore placed third among the blockers while Sealy was fourth among the setters and Ferguson fifth among the liberos. Mohammed said that the Federation invested a lot in the junior team and it was done with the aim of preparing the girls for the NORCECA 2005 Championships. The United States team (world rated number two) defeated Cuba (world rated number five) in the gold medal match while the Dominican Republic took the bronze when they defeated Canada in the third place match. Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Guatemala were the other teams in this year’s tournament.