By Neto Baptiste
The coach of the senior women’s national volleyball team, Fitzroy Benjamin, has blamed a myriad of issues for the team’s “under performance” in the just ended Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Senior Women’s tournament.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Benjamin said that the inexperience of some was a major player among those issues.
“I think some of the players have this notion that because we selected so many young players [who] were part of a club that was second to last in the league here in Antigua, but these are the players that will take you to the next level still.
“I agree that they are not at the top level because with the Cubans and the Hispanics and so forth, you would not expect them to beat my team in the league, but these are the Antiguans who can represent the country and they are young, so it’s just to get them together,” he said.
Antigua and Barbuda finished third in the tournament held in St Maarten but lost to the BVI and St Lucia in the process.
The former player and veteran coach also highlighted that Antigua and Barbuda struggled with the serve throughout the tournament which is a key factor for any team.
“The brand that we played wasn’t a brand we were accustomed to and that’s what cost us. We had some simple unforced serving errors that cost us a lot, because with a bad serve everything can come off of that but if the serve is consistent then you have something to defend. When you serve the ball out and in the net you don’t have anything to defend because you just gave up a point to the opponent,” Benjamin said.
In the end, Benjamin said the coaching staff must take full responsibility for the team’s performance.
“The coaching staff is responsible for the team and whosoever is in the line-up is who the coaching staff put on there is who has to go on the court; so the coaching staff is responsible and I will take responsibility for it,” he said.
“We had discussions here in Antigua, meetings in St Maarten also and even before the games. I think what happens is that some of these players are on the different media chats and you see all of the negative coming through, questioning everything, and because these are volleyball groups and rather than giving support it’s a question, it’s a debate or criticism,” Benjamin added.
St Lucia were winners of the tournament with BVI finishing in the second position. Hosts St Maarten were fourth with Grenada, Anguilla and St Eustatius ending fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.