JaVA Certifies Forty-six More Volleyball Coaches

Following on the certification of twelve (12) coaches two weeks ago, forty-six (46) additional coaches successfully completed the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA) Level One Coaching Course held at Mico University College from May 26 - 29, 2015. This brings the total number of coaches certified by the local body during May 2015 to fifty-eight (58). Augusto Sabbatini, the International Coach who visited JaVA courtesy of Confederation and Regional volleyball authorities, NORCECA and CAZOVA, and Jamaica's FIVB International Level Two Coach, Steve Davis, were again the course instructors. The course was conducted in two separate cohorts - from 10am - 1pm and 4 - 7pm daily to facilitate the candidates.

During the Graduation Ceremony, held at Mico on June 05, 2015, Major Warrenton Dixon, JaVA Development Manager, notified the coaches that their certification was not an end in itself but a first step in partnering with the Association to achieve its strategic goal of transforming Jamaica's volleyball players into world-class players. "We are under no illusion that we are going to achieve this objective overnight but it is important that you accept your role as partners in the effort and that you believe in the goal," Dixon charged the coaches.

Davis, who is also the National Head Coach for the male teams, highlighted the importance of having a unified coaching understanding across Jamaica. "It is important that we welcome ideas about how to transform our game technically and tactically from the international volleyball community but in the end if we do not adapt a single system of play for ourselves we will be counter-productive in our efforts," Davis counselled. "We have to develop and unite around one volleyball philosophy; that is one of the primary objectives of this series of courses."

The JaVA President, Rudolph Speid, informed that coaches of a multiplicity of activities JaVA has been and will be imminently doing to develop and raise the profile of volleyball. He stated that Jamaica is a global brand and that is was essential that whatever is associated with the country's name must be of a standard complimentary to the brand. "We have to accept the challenge to professionalize, popularize and commercialize volleyball in Jamaica and thereby raise the profile of volleyball to being a major sport in Jamaica," Speid exhorted the coaches. Speid also informed the graduates that JaVA is working on a plan to certify five hundred (500) JaVA Level I coaches, an effort that would be spearheaded by Steve Davis. From there, the Association will be soliciting NORCECA and the FIVB to facilitate hosting of International Level I and Level II courses in the short term.

The successful coaches were: Gary Blake, Nickesha Bowers, Junior Broomfield, Ainsley Brown, Malachi Brown, Vince Brown, Itego Campbell, Peter Deeble, Warrenton Dixon, Colleen Dobson, Damion Gooden, Ronold Gordon, Ouida Goulbourne, Loran Grantt, Cornel Hacker, Tamika Henry, Lesia Jackson, Adrian James, Livingston James, Theodore Lee, Norton Leveridge, Allan Levy, Errol Matthais, Orane Maxwell, Andre McHugh, Racquel McDonald, Newton Miller, Sanchia Palarchie, Royland Parker, Annette Pearson, Michael Powell, Tracyann Pryce-Findlay, Jody Pusey, Kevin Raymond, Cleyon Reid, Paul Scott, Jerry Small, Devene Smith, Michael Thompson, Donna Thorpe-Walsh, Patrick Uffar, Romane Walker, Christopher Walters, Kenneth Waugh, Maurice Williams, and Myton Worrell.