Latest update April 11th, 2025 6:13 AM
Female Beach volleyballers outclassed in Uruguay
Coach calls for immediate implementation of structured programme for development
Following the return of Guyana’s two female teams that participated in the South American Beach Confederation Tournament in Uruguay, Head Coach Ian Wills in giving his perspective of the team’s performance said that while they fought gallantly, they were totally outclassed against opponents who were far better prepared in the format.
The Guyanese female Beach volleyballers pose with members of other participating teams in Uruguay recently.
According to Wills, “It is becoming glaringly clearer that local volleyball needs some sort of restructuring and a properly documented and well thought out plan to improve the quality and standard of the game locally, before we can even begin to set sights on competing in the high classed South American Confederation in which we find ourselves. This fact becomes clearer every time we compete in any international tournament, be it males, females or youths.”
He added that the ladies performance was another manifestation of our weakness, the female national teams that wrapped up their campaign in the South American Beach Confederation Tournament were easily brushed aside by seasoned teams from Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia and host Uruguay.
Wills in shedding some light on the vast difference in the level of preparedness and training between the Guyanese girls and the local federation to that of their South American compatriots, in a discussion with players from Bolivia, the weakest team in this group apart from Guyana, they pointed out that after realising their deficiency in the beach aspect of the game, their federation made a conscious effort to focus and expose their players to beach volleyball some 30 years ago.
Guyana on the other hand is now talking about constructing proper courts and playing facilities for beach volleyball. In commenting on the teams’ performance, Wills said on the opening day of competition, both teams started off shakily and it was reflected in the scores as they lost all their games in straight sets and never even managed to score beyond 8 points in the sets that went to 21.
Most difficult for the ladies was the transition to moving in the thick, loosy sand used in proper beach courts when all the exposure and training they had was on nothing compared to the ones they played on.
He, however, stated that because of Subrina Munroe (Guyanese and West Indies cricketer) and Odile Broomes better fitness levels, they found it a bit easier to adjust to the resistance of the sand and managed to play some competitive points.
Days two and three provided no better results as the score lines were practically the same, but after their initial exposure and getting over their nerves, both teams showed glimpses of competitiveness.
According to Wills, a Beach Academy needs to be created where the federation must start focussing on players as young as 9 and 10 years old, the age he believes is perfect to start teaching players proper volleyball techniques, while allowing them enough time to develop in the game so they can begin to be competitive internationally in their mid to late teens.
The Head Coach also believes that local coaches need the opportunity to advance their knowledge of coaching beach volleyball and proper volleyball techniques as a whole since he is of the opinion that despite Guyana’s production of players (especially the males) who can compete at the international level, the difference comes from the absence or insufficient technical foundation.
Wills said he is hoping that the federation wastes little or no time in launching a properly structured programme through engagement of the national coach Levi Nedd and other senior local coaches geared towards a long term development plan for local volleyball.
From Group A, Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay have qualified for the next round where they will compete with the top three qualifiers from Group B, all vying for the one remaining spot left available to the South American Confederation as Brazil has already qualified as host country.
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