Jamaica will need a lot of support - Chong
Published:Tuesday | August 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMMarc Stamp
Ricardo Chong, head coach of Jamaica's team, said they will need major support to prepare for round-three competition in the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World Championship Qualifiers.
Jamaica advanced after finishing runners-up in the 2017 Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Women's Championship, which also served as Round Two FIVB World Championships qualifying.
They were soundly beaten 3-0 by Trinidad and Tobago in Monday night's final at the National Indoor Sports Centre, going down 25-12, 25-16, 25-10.
"We've to try and analyse what went wrong today," assessed Chong. "We know that we're going to play teams that are maybe tougher than this one, so each player needs to be evaluated and see what they should do in the next two months in order to be able to compete effectively in the next round."
He added they are going to also need a lot of support.
"First of all we need a gym to train in, one which has a court like what we're going to play on, under the conditions we're going to play, the nutrition for the team, training gear, training equipment, hydration, ice, those things are all important in making a team sport - especially like this one - better."
Meanwhile, Nicholson Drakes, Trinidad and Tobago's head coach, said they did their homework on the Jamaica team.
"I'm satisfied," he said. "We were doing a lot of future training in preparation for playing Jamaica because we looked at Jamaica as the team we'd be playing in the final."
Trinidad and Tobago dominated in every facet of the game on Monday. Jamaica's libero, Cherie Thompson, could not handle the serves, especially those from Sinead Jack, Darlene Ramdin and Krystle Esdelle. Trinidad and Tobago, at one point in the first set, scored 10 unanswered points off serves from Esdelle.
The crucial FIVB Round Three elimination will be hosted by three countries later this year, with each a four-team tournament. The first will be staged in Canada, September 26-30; Trinidad and Tobago will host the second, October 4-9; while the third will be held in the Dominican Republic, October 11-16. Six teams will advance to the 2018 World Championships.