By Floyd Christie
In an effort to rekindle the flame of local volleyball, the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) in Association with the Aracari Resort yesterday launched the Aracari Beach Volleyball Classic at the Aracari Resort, West Coast Demerara.
The tournament, which is the brain child of Sarse Shewnarain, the CEO of Aracari Resort, will run for five weekends from June 5 to July 3 and will be contested on a beach volleyball court to be constructed at the Resort.
Present at yesterday’s launching were Shewnarain, Lennie Shuffler, President of Guyana Volleyball Federation, Ian Wills, Coordinator of event and members of the organizing committee Vernon Burnett and John Flores, along with players from participating clubs.
Giving insight to his thoughts when presented with the idea of the tournament, Shewnarain explained that they were more in line with “what goes on in the community.”
He said that it was the top players in the community who had made him aware of the need for promoting the sport in this area.
“When the concept of supporting and sponsoring volleyball came to my attention the thought of the benefits of sports to individuals came to mind,” he said.
Shewnarain explained that supporting the concept was not difficult because it is closely tied to his business’ corporate mission which is “building a better future.”
He emphasized the fact that sports build leadership, a sense of responsibility and teaches good governance and said that his main objectives were to promote the sport and develop the skills and talents needed for such development.
President of GVF, Lennie Shuffler noted that the tournament was aimed at…. “restarting the fire not only in beach volleyball but volleyball generally.”
Region three, it was pointed out, has a cluster of volleyball players.
“More of interest was the promotion of volleyball which can provide healthy entertainment for youths and to create awareness of the sand court that is available to the youths.
That is a big step to take the volleyball in the right direction,” Shuffler said.
Shuffler recognized the significance of Acari’s involvement towards the Development of the sport stated in his closing remarks which was directed at the players in attendance, “Development requires finance and a passion for what you do… If we merge them together like we’re doing now then the result will be success.”
Wills spoke on behalf of the players and commended the GVF and Aracari Resort for their efforts to develop the sport.
He added “We’re looking forward to a high level of volleyball and we will do our best to provide an entertaining tournament for the expected spectators.”
The tournament will feature 16 teams from Berbice, Linden, Georgetown and surrounding with four players on each team.
The first four weekends will be the preliminary rounds, which will be followed by with finals and semi final rounds on the fifth weekend.
Medals will be awarded in the preliminary rounds for all the participating teams, while in the semi finals and finals trophies will be awarded for the best Spiker, best Blocker, best Defender and the best server.
The winning team will receive $100,000, while second, third and fourth place finishers will receive $75,000, $50,000 and $25,000 respectively, compliment of Aracari Resort.
In addition to the 16 teams, the organizer’s are also expecting to have four female teams participating in the event and supporters can expect players to put on a good show of volleyball. The tournament serves off at 12.30pm next Saturday.