By Royston Alkins
President of the Demerara Volleyball Association Trevor Williams Friday expressed excitement at the possibility of starting a male and female volleyball league this year.
Williams, indicated to Stabroek Sports that the league, which should commence in February, will last for four months and should see games contested across Georgetown, Linden and Bartica.
He said that Bartica will be featured in the league even though its geographic location falls outside of the association’s district.
The 40-year-old Williams said that Bartica’s inclusion signals his association’s willingness to develop the sport.
“The league is really a dream come through which will see the sport moving to a semi-professional height,” he gushed.
Williams, a former Member of Parliament, said that the association is fine-tuning a document with respect to the specifics about the league which will release more details.
Asked about his views on 2016, Williams, whose tenure commenced last January, said that the association had a fairly successful year.
“We had a Brazilian coach here who helped to prepare four teams we sent to Brazil last year and that was a major success. We also had an increase in the number of teams which now participate in the Demerara Association.
“When I took over we had just about five teams. We now have 14,” he added.
He also expressed joy at the reintroduction of volleyball in Linden pointing out that they are the current female champions.
“We took volleyball back to Linden, in keeping with the vision to include them in 2016 and now they have the top female team,” he declared.
Williams, who is the Operations Manager of the National Track and Field Facility, underscored the success of the association by recounting the achievements of the schools championships.
“Having the schools volleyball championship was also a huge success with Queen’s College coming out as winners.”
Not giving too much away, Williams said that a meeting is scheduled for today where the Berbice and possibly the Essequibo associations will be meeting to deliver their 2017 calendar.
Williams, however, said that he was confident that there will be more international tours for the Demerara clubs who excel.
“We’ll definitely be heading back to Brazil and having them here for a three-way cross border club tournament. We understand that it’s necessary to expose our players to competitive volleyball in order to harness their development.”
He also stated that the schools tournament will continue and also addressed the shortage of referees in Guyana stating a desire to for more courses.
“I want to hold more referee courses,” he ended.
