By Carlena Knight
Better communication and more time are two key factors that the assistant coach of the Under-20 male volleyball team, Michael Hamilton, believes are needed for proper preparation of teams.
Hamilton, a guest on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show yesterday, was speaking mainly on the physical and mental fitness of the players.
“It needs to be done better because normally we get the information for these tournaments two months before and there is no time to apply physical preparation and then court preparation. There needs to be more of a time space where we can get more time to physically prepare them and then we move into the ball work on the court so that they can be both physically and skill-wise prepared,” he said.
Despite those issues, Hamilton remains confident of the team’s chances in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Under-20 men’s tournament which spikes off at 6 tonight at the YMCA Volleyball indoor facility.
“I am confident that the guys can pull out a gold medal, but it’s just for them when game time comes to put their best foot forward and do what they have to do with what we trained them with in practice.”
An 11-man squad has been announced by the Antigua and Barbuda Amateur Volleyball Association (ABAVA) to contest the Qualifiers – Miguel Bourne, Dominick Anthony, Oryan Prince, Tejani Harvey (captain), Khaliq Joseph, Jahsun Josiah, Jameel Espirit, Tayshawn Henry, Joseph O’Garro, John David and Nathaniel Santana.
The Head Coach of the team is Olsen Joseph while the Team Manager is Urvin Lewis.
Antigua and Barbuda will do battle against St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the lone advancing spot to the 2020 NORCECA Championships.
Grenada and Anguilla were also expected to compete but they dropped out.
Antigua and Barbuda will play St. Kitts and Nevis in their opening match tomorrow night at 8.
They will then face St. Lucia on Friday morning at 9 and then, later that night, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The semi-finals will spike off on Saturday night while the finals will be played Sunday evening.
A general admission of $5 will be charged on Thursday and Friday, while on Saturday and Sunday it will be $10.