President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF), Levi Nedd, is hopeful for the return of some semblance of normalcy to volleyball activity in Guyana in the new year, once permission is granted by the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Task Force.
Volleyball, as is the case with many outdoor sporting activities, has been severely affected by the ongoing pandemic which has prevented play. Nevertheless, the easing of restrictions to allow for outdoor activities under strict guidelines has prompted Nedd to re-engage the Task Force after their initial request to resume play was denied.
“I’m hoping that in 2021, we can have a full resumption of where we left off,” Nedd declared.
“We are going to write again [to the Ministry of Health]….We wrote to the Minister of Health to recommence training but we were denied and we want to have permission to have activities outside, not inside where it’s more hazardous, so to speak, where we will observe the full COVID regulations and that is for us to start here,” Nedd told this publication during an interview yesterday.
Approval to recommence the sport is of particular importance since it will act as a litmus test for the federation to assess its capacity to host events in the new norm as much as it will give local slammers the opportunity to have on-court action. The two go hand-in-hand since Nedd’s federation is planning to host two of its sister nations for a senior club tournament in 2021.
“The first thing we would like to look at is to bring Suriname and French Guiana to Guyana. That was in the making this year, but the COVID situation happened,” Nedd explained.
He added: “It’s a senior Inter-Club tournament, male and female, and I’ve leant that both countries have already started preparations and we are really hoping for the full local and international go ahead.”
Nedd, who seems keen to hit the ground running in the new year, also hinted that Guyana will be participating in an under-16 tournament in Suriname and a beach volleyball tournament in Cayenne in the near future once the blocks fall into place.
