2006 Women's World Championship – Jamaica
British Virgin Islands en route to Jamaica (FIVB)
04/14/2005
Tortola, British Virgin Islands, April 14, 2005 - The
British Virgin Islands (BVI) national women's Volleyball
team left for Jamaica on Wednesday for its first foray
into the 2006 Women’s World Championship, which starts
on Friday and runs through the weekend.
The BVI will compete against Jamaica, the Cayman Islands
and Netherlands Antilles. The winner of the
competitionwill advance to the next round.
Head coach Kwele Williams said the team has been
preparing for the competition for the last six weeks.
"We're dealing with an experienced set of players, and
most of them have been working out prior to and getting
back into game shape," Williams said. "At one time,
there were players preparing on their own, knowing that
the (local) league was upcoming, so they were getting in
shape prior to, but as a team itself, that only came
later."
As the tournament approached, Williams said practices
became more intense and the players began to unite as a
team.
"During the early days, people were coming from
different teams and trying to fit in, but now that that
we have been doing it for a while, they have come
together and we've had good practices over the last two
weeks," Williams said.
The BVI has ranked among the top teams in the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and won the
2003 tournament. A BVI team has faced the Cayman Islands
before, but not Jamaica or Netherlands Antilles.
"We were successful against that Cayman team, but that
was sometime back and we are not sure where they have
come since then," Williams said. "We are pretty much
confident playing against the Cayman Islands and the
Netherlands Antilles teams. I think Jamaica might be the
most challenging team in the tournament, but we don't
know any of the teams, so it's a new experience for us."
The British Virgin Islands: Jackie Weeks, Melissa Amey,
Ivy Cameron, Jenelle Scatliffe, Sabinah Mason, Valissa
Bratwaithe, Celine Alphonso, Michelle Todman-Georges and
Patti Romney. Coaches: Kwele Williams and Dwayne Rubaine.
Story courtesy of Dean Greenaway at the British
Virgin Islands News
