Indoor volleyball sees its next big
event on these shores in the form of an international tournament.
The Cayman Islands Volleyball
Federation is putting on an indoor tournament next week. The 2010 Cayman
Airways Spikefest Invitational competition runs 26-28 November at the Sir
Vassel Johnson Hall at the University College of the Cayman Islands.
A number of local teams and players
are slated to compete. In addition a travel side from New York will be in
attendance. In total some six male and four female sides have signed up to
play. Local sports figure Fareed Hosein is an organiser for the tournament and
spoke about the competitors.
“Certainly two of the local teams
to watch out for are the Arsenal Falcons and the Kyotics,” Hosein said. “The
Arsenal team has guys like Olney Thompson, Anthony Bodden and Keeble Knight
while the Kyotics feature Shervin Rankin, Daniel Pattico and Andrew Gordon.”
Hosein is quite familiar with the
players. Aside from his role as organizer Hosein has been involved in local
volleyball, particularly the indoor version, for a number of years. He took
part in national team tryouts alongside most of those players ahead of last
year’s Island Games in Aland, near Finland.
Out of that group, arguably the
busiest spiker has been Thompson. In addition to preparing and competing in
beach volleyball events abroad alongside Rankin, Thompson was part of an
outreach program put on by the volleyball federation. The initiative focused on
introducing the sport to youngsters across various schools on Grand Cayman such
as Cayman Academy, Cayman Prep and the four institutions on the George Hicks
campus. Volleyball Federation president Noel Williams stated earlier this year
that some CI$5000 had been spent on that program, mainly on volleyball
equipment.
Hosein, an accountant at KPMG, went
on to say that the upcoming volleyball event is part of the federation’s goal
of making Cayman an attractive locale for volleyball at an international level.
“These types of tournaments are
very important for Cayman as it helps promote the islands as a tourist
destination and brings to light Cayman’s international appeal. The tournament
also serves to encourage youth of the Cayman Islands to get involved in sports,
which will promote a healthier lifestyle.”
Related Videos
