PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Volleyball administrators here are working on a plan for the sport, including improving coaching staff and methods, to be ready to resume play once the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
Sports across the globe have been brought to a standstill as social distancing and stay-at-home orders take effect in several countries to stem the spread of COVID-19, which has infected more than 2.5 million people worldwide and caused in excess of 174,000 deaths.
Chairperson of the National Technical Commission of the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation, Dr. Trevor Theroulde told CNC3 Sport on Monday that the downtime was being used to prepare for post-COVID-19.
“We’re trying to put our national coaches in place, we’re trying to select elite athletes at all levels – from the youth programme, junior programmes, all the way up to seniors – so as soon as we are in a situation where we could commence the programme, we could just hit the ground running,” he said.
“So, right now, COVID-19 has created a situation where we’re trying to be very creative and innovative with our training methods and modules. But still, at one point in time we’ll have to get back to some sort of normalcy, so we have to be prepared, and this is what we’re trying to do right now, together with other members of the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation.”
Dr. Theroulde, who is also Regional Coordinator with volleyball’s world governing body FIVB, said there would be changes to how athletes are trained, as he stressed the need for coaches that “can relate to players effectively and efficiently”.
He noted that, in the past, while volleyballers were playing professionally, many coaches were functioning in part-time roles because they had other jobs.
“It did not work well because we need our coaches to be at a high level, so when the players return to Trinidad and Tobago the standard of training would be almost the same as the international professional clubs,” he said. “So, one of the things we are looking at is really analyzing the type of coaches we have and looking at ways that we could really train those coaches to be more effective in dissemination information to our national team programmes.”
Dr. Theroulde contended that there was a lot of talent in the twin-island republic, and made particular mention of the current women’s team which he said was more talented than the squad that qualified for the 2017 FIVB Women’s World Championship.
“So, we just need to put the proper structures and coaches in place, so we’ll be able to achieve a lot more than just qualify for the World Championships once every 20 years. It needs to be more consistent, so we’re looking for a more sustainable model and a more effective approach to getting out coaches ready and our national team selectees ready to participate at a high level,” he said.
T&T qualified for the North, Central America and the Caribbean (NORCECA) Women’s Final Four Qualification Tournament although that competition has been pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The round-robin tournament was originally scheduled for Puerto Rico in mid-May, but has been rescheduled for the end of July.
T&T’s women finished last year ranked seventh in NORCECA, but advanced to the Final Four competition because United States, Dominican Republic and Canada ended the season ranked in the top 22 in the world and qualified automatically.
