Volleyball in the Guyanese context is one of the lesser-known sports; it has a tiny following. Nevertheless, one of the country’s top clubs – Young Achievers – which is based in Goed Fortuin in the Essequibo-West Demerara Region, is making a significant impact on the community.
It all began more than two decades ago when Roffel Bodhoo, a youth in the community, strolled up to Devendra Samaroo and made a simple plea on behalf of his peers to teach the nuances of the sport.
“Roffel, that’s the name I remember, he’s living overseas now… but he’s the kid that approached me and said, “Uncle Deven, teach us to play volleyball,” Samaroo recalled to Stabroek Sports of how the tale began.
After realizing the overwhelming need to initiate a grass-roots, community-based movement, centred around the sport he loved, Samaroo and several others took on ‘Roffel’s challenge’. Today, Young Achievers Volleyball Club is one of the premier clubs in Guyana.
“How do we attract athletes? We’re based in a community centre so kids will see us practicing and enroll; we always encourage and train anyone interested; we’ve always been tagged as having a volleyball nursery,” Samaroo explained.
However, attracting females has always been a challenge but not for lack of effort.
“Females were always difficult to attract not because we don’t encourage them but being in the country side females are always targeted with derogatory comments from the community… My daughter was the best, I say was, because she in America now.”
Samaroo’s daughter Danielle was one of Guyana’s finest players but she had to abort her volleyball ambitions to focus on other aspects of life due to the lack of female tournaments.
The Club’s motto is “One for one, All for all” and their success is predicated on what the 53-year old describes as a robust work ethic… “practice, practice and never stop because practice makes you perfect,” he asserted.
The long-term vision for the club is simply to compete at the highest level. Young Achievers won the 2011 Interguyana club tournament, an improvement from their third-place finish the year before. They also had success in the Guyoil Tradewind Tankers Year-round Tournament winning three years in succession beginning in 2010.
Years before then they created history by serving their way to championship honours in all three of GVF’s divisions (first, second and third) in a calendar year in 2005.
Today, Achievers is still the club to beat.
In all the glitter, the club has had its fair share of difficulty. One of which surrounds the limited corporate and government support to ensure its growth.
“Eighty percent of a player’s development is their commitment and love for the sport and we never had a sponsor; all our funds came from winnings and fundraisers.”
To create a better training environment, the Demerara Volleyball Association (DVA) offered the club to use the facilities at the National Gymnasium. At first, it seemed ideal but swiftly presented another challenge.
“An adequate facility, at first it was ok but since our introduction to the mat in the Gymnasium I’m having a hard time encouraging players to practice. Another thing is most of the players are now working so there is no time to practice in the afternoons. I was trying to get some lighting installed so we can train at nights but finance is a problem,” the coach explained.
Over the years Young Achievers produced a number of quality players who represented Guyana at the Under–19 and senior levels for Guyana. In the past, the club produced Randy Adams – arguably the best volleyball player in his time along with Michael Trapped, Christopher Ramsundar, Kapil Dev Samaroo, Treson Smith, Cleveland Peters, and Kevin Vieira. More recently, the likes of Creston Rodney, Klondike Rodney, Juan Velasquez, Khemraj Singh, Ryon Mangru, Corwin Richard, and Wendell Austin are a few who have been carrying the torch for the West Demerara treasure.
