Volleyball is no cheap thrill for association

The St Lucia Volleyball Association held their Appreciation Night Sunday evening at the Bay Gardens Conference Room and despite having another good year, they are finding out yet again there is a hefty price to pay for success unless corporate St Lucia chips in.

The formal affair held under the theme “Go Beyond Your Limits” was well attended by players, coaches and executive members including President, Brian Louisy. The evening’s special guest was Ligorious Marquis of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports.

In his review of 2013 Louisy said: “I think it was a good year for us. We had a number of successes and we are very pleased, because they have not been accidental or incidental.  As players you worked hard and didn’t just go to tournaments and good things happened.”

Lousy went on to say: “The SLVA lives by the code participation and competition equals development. This is what drives the association and the executive, when we design our programs and put our efforts behind our initiatives.”

It will again be a busy year for the SLVBA with several tournaments taking place on sand and indoors. Beach volleyballers have a hectic schedule and if all goes well will travel to Mexico, Portugal, Poland and Cyprus for world qualifying competitions.

When asked how much would it cost the association to meet their financial obligation for 2014 Louisy replied: “We have not put together a final detailed budget, but just looking at what we need to do and what it cost in the past, we are looking at about EC$600,000.

Following his rather lengthy but insightful presentation,  PRO Shane Roachford proudly announced that St Lucia is well on the way to have its first female international referee who is Shirlon Hunte. She successfully completed the course in Serbia last year and only needs to complete the required number of supervised international matches to acquire international referee status.

Of course the highlight of the evening was the presentation of awards to the top players. Dala Noel is the Junior Female Volleyball Player of the Year while Augustin Faulkner who performed a dance routine that delighted the audience, came away with Junior Male Volleyball Player of the Year.

Joseph Clercent emerged as the the Senior Male Volleyball Player of the Year with the Senior Female Volleyball Player of the Year going to Natalie Edward.

An indication that the SLVBA has several outstanding players is the fact Clercent, Edward and Noel, are among the finalists for prestigious awards at this evening’s 33rd Annual National Sports Awards taking place at the Gaiety, Rodney Bay.