Today the Belize Volleyball Association held a press conference to introduce the team that will be representing Belize in the FIVB Men’s World Championship Qualification Tournament. Belize will host six other teams who will face off in a round robin tournament. This tournament is the first stage in an international competition to earn a place in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championships which, according to the BVA President, Allan Sharp, is the equivalent of the FIFA World Cup.
As the host country there is a lot of pressure for the home team to do well, but the coaching staff is not too worried about the team’s capabilities. The team has trained together since February 2016, under Cuban coach Delio Arruebarrena, who is no stranger to high level play. And when asked about what gives the Belize team the edge in a tournament with such high level players, President Allan Sharp had this to say:
Allan Sharp - President
"I think the fan base will be important and that same fan base will be important in motivating our guys. We know in this tournament very few teams will beat up the next team, you will be catching a team on a bad night for somebody to just beat up the next side; it's going to be a battle."
And it’s going to be an expensive one. Belize has never hosted an international sports tournament of this magnitude before, and even with a sizable donation from the FIVB, the BVA needed to raise a significant amount of money:
Allan Sharp - President
"Having such an event is very expensive and in all truth and honesty we try to discuss with the international body what Belize has never hosted such a tournament in volleyball; and it's very expensive, could we have try somebody else host it and we host something smaller and we were told that no, we had to host or suffer consequences. That is loss of assistance from internationals governing bodies, equipment and what have you. The reason I raise this is because I think it's important that the public realises that a country cannot just sit back and keep travelling to tournaments we have responsibilities to host. To host cost money and to host you want to have proper teams, or teams properly trained so you can represent well."
The tournament kicks off on Saturday, September 24th at 3:00 pm, at the SCA Multipurpose Center, and will continue on to the 30th of September. Tickets will be on sale at $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12, and if you can’t make it out, the matches will be lived stream on the BVA’s Facebook page, as well as on Youtube.
Email
Print