After weeks of rigorous preparation, a confident national men’s volleyball team winged out for Maceio, Brazil
yesterday in a quest to return home champions of the 31st Edition of the CSV Men’s South American tournament which spikes off from September 30 to October 4.
The 12-man side led by the 24-year-old Quacy Matheson, will seek to upset some of South Americas top volleyball nations the likes of; Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and a few others who occupy top spots in the rankings.
Guyana are grouped in Pool B which means they will lock horns with Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina and prior to their departure, Stabroek Sports caught up with Head Coach Levi Nedd at the National Gymnasium yesterday as he shared his final thoughts ahead of the competition.
Nedd, a former national player said that he has been wary of the competition and as such, himself and the members of the team have been watching numerous videos of the three teams they are set to face in Group B. “I know that we’ve prepared well especially when you get over there with the echelons of volleyball. This is also the jumping block for volleyball in Guyana, I have high hopes for the team and once we get the adrenaline pumping, I know we’ll get the best out of them.”
The players were encamped for approximately three weeks at the gymnasium under the guidance of assistant coach Ian Wills while Nedd carried out similar sessions with the Berbice players in the ancient county before both coaches joined forces in town for the latter stages of the camp.
Nedd explained that he stressed on numerous occasions with his players, areas such as fitness, protocol and discipline as well as in game tactics such as service and reception. Despite some players in the squad with experiences overseas playing for and against clubs in Trinidad and Suriname, the Coach remained humble and stated that the team should give a good account of itself.
“As the head coach I would not say we have old players, no one in the team has ever been to a senior tournament such as this, so everyone is new to the tournament but in terms of the game itself. I think everyone is ready for that, we will give our best I know for sure based on the last training session I’ve seen because these guys were knocking on the door to get into the national team and they will do what they have to do”. He said.
He also believed that the current team has much more of an advantage compared to back in the days when he once represented Guyana as a young volleyball player. “In my days to now rules have changed, we hadn’t the type of floors like today, the balls were different, the nets were different, the equipment was different even the refereeing was different so if I were to merge the two, they have a better chance to win than we had back in the days especially when you couldn’t see who you faced.”
In closing, Nedd thanked the media for their coverage of the team’s preparations and said that they will be seeking to give worthy accounts of themselves during the lengths of the tournament.
The 12-man squads reads: Trevlon McRae, Quacy Matheson (captain), Creston Rodney, Adriel Moore, Shemroy Ross, Jason Seelochan, Khemraj Singh, Samuel Fraser, Cleveland peters, Ian Bagot, Vans Harding and Wendell Austin.
