Nain tops school competition in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica, November 28, 2013 - Jamaica Volleyball Association western regional director, Haile Mika'el, believes that with the right amount of exposure, the sport will be of a truly high quality in St Elizabeth and in short order will rival that of established programmes in Westmoreland and St James.

"The students are enthused about the sport and this is very encouraging," said Mika'el, following Nain Primary and Junior High School's victory in the inaugural JaVA St Elizabeth Primary and Prep Schools' volleyball championship.

"The talent pool is also encouraging and so we hope that this will be the springboard for volleyball in St Elizabeth," he added.

"I believe that from what we have seen, St Elizabeth has what it takes to rival neighbouring parishes in quality, but will need the total development of these young players to get it moving in the right direction."

Nain defeated Geneva Primary and Santa Cruz Primary and Junior High, respectively, to top the championship.

Garfield Binns was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for Nain, who overcame an early scare against the hosts, eventually winning 16-18, 15-6, 11-8.

They then stopped Santa Cruz 15-4, 15-13 to complete the clean sweep, following victories in the first leg on November 1 at Santa Cruz. Sheena Wright was outstanding on the day for Geneva as they cooled Santa Cruz 15-7, 15-10 for second spot.

The only concern facing JaVA is how to get increased participation for the league, which only has four schools competing.

"The real focus for us now is to get other schools involved in the sport, which can grow and increase in popularity, but will need far more interaction between competent coaches and potential players," said Mika'el.

Nain and Geneva will now represent the parish at the national finals on Wednesday, December 11 in Kingston at the National Stadium complex, starting at 9 a.m.