After emerging from dogged preliminary, quarterfinal and
semifinal matches, Unity, out of Westmoreland, walked away with the
National Title and the accompanying spoils by overcoming the
challenge of St James flag bearers, Irwin Primary 15-10, 15-10 in
the finals of the JaVA organized competition.
In the preliminary round,Unity emerged atop their group and
played Lyssons Primary from St Thomas in the quarterfinal. They won
the match in 3 sets 15-2, 14-15, 11-2. Then, they then came up
against parish-mates Little London and came away victors 15-12,
15-10.
On the other side of the draw Irwin also emerged from the
preliminary round atop their group and played Port Morant in the
quarterfinals. They came away 15-11, 15-10 winners and moved on to
play defending champions Greater Portmore Primary in the
semifinals. In what was the most intense match of the day, Irwin
took the first set 15-8 and had 5 match points with the score on
14-9 in their favour. However Greater Portmore's coach, Dwight
"Baatpan" Steadford, performed his second "Houdini" act of the day
to lead his charges to take the set 15-14. The magic didn't last
for much longer as Irwin ran away with the deciding set 11-4 to
secure their birth in the finals. Greater Portmore quickly pulled
themselves together and showed the heart of a champion to take the
third place match against Little London 25-16.
Kaldane Channer of Unity Primary took the President's Madd
Skills award, while Jahaina "Ras" Rose of Irwin Primary was
selected the National Finals MVP for displaying good
leadership.
The top 3 teams were rewarded with medals, trophies and balls,
with the winning team also earning a net. The other 9 teams that
competed in the National Final were given balls courtesy of NORCECA
Volleyball Confederation. Hi-lyte Sport Drink, Seprod, and Juici
Patties have provided part sponsorship of the event.
Major Warrenton Dixon, President of the Jamaica Volleyball
Association, in his address to the children, said that he desired
to see Jamaican children wearing the National colours in
competition at the regional and international levels. "This is not
far fetched. It is being done by other countries. You are no worse
than they are; you just lack opportunity. JaVA will do what we can
to prepare you until we can get some substancial funding support to
do more. Jamaica will be a major force in volleyball," Major Dixon
asserted.
Dixon also acknowledged Haile Mikael, the coach who inspired him
to organize the Primary-level schools competition. In 2009 Mikael
had organized a competition between 5 Westmoreland-based schools,
all of which he coached.
"After seeing that competition I was convinced that if one
little-known man could organize such a competition nothing should
stop a National Association from improving on the effort," Dixon
stated.
|