Four primary schools will be vying for the title during the inaugural National Primary Schools Volleyball Invitational Competition next Wednesday.
And first vice-president of the Barbados Volleyball Association (BVA) Kenmore Bynoe said the competition which is being hosted by Jolie B Productions and Warrens Sports Club in partnership with the BVA was long anticipated.
“Today something is definitely happening in volleyball with the launch of this competition because it has been the hope for the Barbados Volleyball Association for many years that we could break into the primary school sporting programme to get volleyball up and running at that level.
“By the time the children leave primary school and go off to secondary school they would have already not only been exposed to the basics of netball, football and cricket but they would have been exposed to various competitions through the National Sports Council,” said Bynoe.
He was speaking at a media launch at the Barbados Olympic Association headquarters yesterday to announce details of the tournament which will involve competition between Eden Lodge, West Terrace, St Christopher and St Stephen’s at the Wildey Gymnasium.
Bynoe mentioned that there would have been some concerns about the men’s and women’s game over the past few years but the performance at the junior level had shown that all wasn’t lost with the sport.
“Our junior programmes are bearing tremendous fruit. We have been doing extremely well at the junior level with our junior players and this primary school competition will certainly augment what we have been doing at the junior level.”
He added that he was pleased to have Jolie B and Warrens Sports Club come on board and it will lead to reaping an even greater benefit within the junior programme.
Julia Broome of Jolie B Productions explained that those four schools were chosen due to an ongoing relationship between the co-ordinators and schools.
She added that although the sport was being played across the majority of levels it was crucial to make sure it was played at the primary school level.
“Both Jolie B Productions and Warrens Sports Club viewed this void as a pot hole in the road to dominance which Barbadians once enjoyed and come to expect at all levels of the sport of volleyball. The competition seeks to encourage the interest in the sport of volleyball with the hope of filtering some of these participants into the existing volleyball association’s youth programmes.”
Technical director Adrian Harewood pointed out that the competition was expected to be a round robin format. (RG)
