Team entry forms are now available and should be completed and returned to the MOSA Volleyball Club on or before September 28 … along with the requested deposit …. on Mondays or Wednesdays (5:30 p.m.-9 p.m.) at the MICO gym.

President of JAVA, Wayne Robertson, said recently: “We are hoping to introduce volleyball at the primary/preparatory school (level) in 2010. The sport needs to be expanded and we need to introduce it to younger players and get them involved. We already have a high school league but that is not sufficient I believe the time has come for us to revise the high school league (which) is administered by ISSA (Inter-Secondary School Sports Association) and we basically just provide the oversight so to speak, but I believe that we really need to increase the number of schools that are currently playing the sport at that level.”

Currently, volleyball is largely played at the club and university / college level here in Jamaica. ISSA also administers a high school league, which acts somewhat as a feeder for the national age-group teams.

Robertson is reportedly also looking into the establishment of an Under-10 and Under-12 program to support the current Under-15 and Under-19 programs - this, as part of a comprehensive rethinking of the association’s approach to youth volleyball development. He has said however that securing financial support for this will be a challenge.

They will now face-off with Barbados in the finals at the same venue later tonight, however both teams are already guaranteed a place in the next round which takes place in Puerto Rico.

Jamaica, who were third behind champions Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados at last year’s Caribbean Championship, outgunned St. Lucia 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 in their game last night. Captain Lecia Brown led the Jamaican charge with 13 points, including three blocks and two service aces.
Cheryl Daley (11) and Avaniki Campbell (10) gave Jamaica three players in double figures.

Jamaica will play Cayman tomorrow in the final Pool B match.

Bank of Jamaica placed second at the rally with an 8-4 record, and also finished runners-up in overall points. National Water Commission (NWC) had a 7-5 record for third place with 26 points and 21 overall.

UWI and Guardian ‘A’ finished with identical 6-6 records and 24 points. However, UWI claimed fourth for the day with a +1 differential, compared to Guardian ‘A’s -5 point differential. Notably however, Guardian ‘A’ would get sweet revenge as they were fourth overall with 16 points, while UWI had six points at this their first and only rally of the three so far.

AMECO, who placed sixth in the Rally with a 3-9 record, were fifth overall with 10 points, while Guardian ‘B’ were last with a 1-11 win/loss record and three points overall.

The teams will now turn their attention to the Reggae Jammin Indoor League which gets underway on June 7 featuring ‘best of three’ games. The Jamaica Defence Force are the defending league champions.

The Jamaicans won the first and second sets 25-22, 25-23, lost the third set 22-25, then won the fourth set 25-18 to end their disappointing campaign on a high.

Jamaica’s volley ballers will now turn their attention to the female qualifiers, set to happen July 6-8 at the University of Central Florida Arena.

Regional powerhouses Mexico feature in the other semi-final match today against Haiti. The winners of each of the two semi-final matches will then meet in tomorrow’s final, and both will be guaranteed a place in the next qualifying round.

As a result of this 9 hour immigration glitch, the FIVB World Championship Group D qualifying tournament at the National Indoor Sports Centre started two hours late. The opening game between St. Lucia and the Bahamas started at 7:30 (the time that had been slated for the Jamaica/Haiti game) last night, long after its scheduled 5 o’clock start.

Eventually when the Jamaica / Haiti game got underway, Jamaica went on to do a straight set 3-0 annihilation of the Haitians. Jamaica won the sets 25-16, 25-13, 25-20.