Volleyball championship achieves major objective – says Wills

Coordinator of the Trade Wind Tankers True Championship volleyball tournament, Ian Wills said that the championship achieved its objective in its third year, which was to ensure that volleyball entered the limelight again.

Wills told this publication that before the tournament started, volleyball was rapidly dying but the championships resuscitated the sport to a competitive level, mainly in Berbice and Demerara where the top eight teams came from.
According to him, not much volleyball is played in Essequibo and the interior regions. Therefore, he called on citizens of these areas to form teams that can take part in the competition which was endorsed by Sports Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, as the feature volleyball tournament in Guyana.
Wills who is also the president of the Demerara Volleyball Association (DVA), is challenging the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) to form an Association in Essequibo so that the county can have a structured body like Demerara and Berbice to oversee the sport.
As it relates to the benefits of this year’s competition, the coordinator emphasised that the money injected into the tournament is beyond any contribution to volleyball in the past.
“Prior to this tournament, no one has ever contributed one million dollars to volleyball. This year we have Gy$ 1.3M, and in volleyball sense this is huge. This undertaking only suggests a better future for the sport,” posited the coordinator.
Defending champions and one of the finalists in this year’s competition which closes on September 1, Young Achievers have so far won close to Gy$ 100,000. Wills noted that in other sports such money may be considered petty but in volleyball it is significant especially since in the past that amount would have been accumulated over time.
He added that the money can be used to assist with the maintenance of the club’s equipment, and for volleyball tours which will develop the players.
The Gy$ 1.3M budget for this year includes the running of the overseas leg of the tournament which is slated for October this year. The two finalists, Young Achievers and Port Mourant Training School, along with the host team, Castrol strikers will engage in competition with a team from the Caribbean.
At the moment the local organisers have not decided on the team, but they are in talks with Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. On the other hand, the final, which is scheduled for Saturday, could see defending champions Young Achievers, who have been dominant throughout the tournament, retaining their title for the third straight year.