Belize to Host Central American Men’s Volleyball Championship

Belize to Host Central American Men’s Volleyball Championship

Belize’s Senior Men’s Volleyball Team will be taking on opponents from across the region in the upcoming Central American Men’s Volleyball Championship. The tournament is being hosted by the Belize Volleyball Association and it all goes down inside the Belize City Civic Center this weekend. This competition comes on the heels of two podium performances by two of Belize’s national teams over the past two weeks. News Five’s Paul Lopez stopped by the Civic this morning to speak with members of the senior men’s volleyball team. Here is that report.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Belize’s Senior Men’s Volleyball Team is gearing up for the Central American Men’s Volleyball Championship. The tournament kicks off on Sunday inside the Belize City Civic Center. Team Belize is slated to play its first match that night against El Salvador.

Albert Humes, Head Coach, National Senior Men’s Volleyball Team

“The team right now because we are hosting, we have fourteen players. WE carry two liberos on this team. The team has been training for the last four months. One of the reason is that some of the players come from outside and we had a long selection process. So, also the team has been training five hours for day, two hours in the morning and three hours in the night from sixty thirty to about nine thirty nine.”

The Senior Men’s Volleyball Team will be competing on the heels of a silver medal performance from the National Under-Nineteen Female Volleyball Team and a bronze medal performance from Belize’s Under-Seventeen Male Basketball Team.

Albert Humes

“Before those two tournaments had been taken off; our thing on paper definitely is gold. If we don’t get the gold I will consider it a bust for me and I think most of the players feel that same way because we have great experience, great depth, great youth, everything else that was missing in the past.”

According to Coach Humes, Belize’s Senior Men’s Volleyball Team has been knocking on the doors of gold for quite some time, but it has constantly fallen short. At this level, Guatemala is ranked as the top team in the region, while Costa Rica comes in as one of Belize’s most formidable opponents. But for Elton Anderson, the Captain of Belize’s national team, at this stage it is about having the right frame of mind in order to come out victorious.

Elton Anderson, Captain, National Senior Men’s Volleyball Team

“Mentally we are together. We are coming together very strong with the mentally. The aim is to win. The guys have a number of discussions. We saw what happened with the basketball team, we saw what happened with the girls. So the discussion in the huddles and before workout is medal or bust. Our mentality is the boys got third, the girls got second and we are suppose to get first place. The biggest thing for me is to remain positive and calm. The guys look up to me as the oldest person on the team. When we are in a lull or whether we are doing great and down they can look at me to rejoice and we get a point when we are down. So my mentality and focus right now is just to stay positive.”

Ernest Broaster Junior, one of the outside hitters on the national team, is following in the footsteps of his father, well known volleyball player Ernest Broaster Senior. He says he wanted to carry on his father’s legacy.

Ernest Broaster, Outside Hitter, National Senior Men’s Volleyball Team

“I started this because of my dad; he is a well known player in Central America. I wanted to take up his legacy and now here I am representing Belize at the senior level and this has really taken me to a good spot. My expectation for myself is to perform at a high level and keep that consistent throughout the days. I don’t want to fall later in the tournament. I want to stay constant. But that is all mental. At this level there is not much technical you can teach. It is mental now. You have to stay in your game, don’t get out of it.”

Kerwin Palacio, Belize’s six foot, seven inch middle blocker lives by the mantra, “always try to look at the brighter side of things, stay positive”.  He is positive that this senior men’s team will put off an exceptional performance each night for their fans.

Kerwin Palacio, Middle Blocker, National Senior Men’s Volleyball Team

“I feel like I bring good blocking and I am athletic and I will try my best. If you know Berissford Codd, he reached out to a guy I know and they asked me if I was interested in playing volleyball. I was like yes because I was always interested in the sport but didn’t really get the chance to play. Me personally, I feel like this team will do a great job, fans can expect from me a lot of energy, some blocks.”

Albert Humes

“The fans is another team mate on the court. The more fans the more adrenaline these guys have, the higher they jump, the more they go for the scrappy balls and so forth. It is an encouragement for the guys when you play among, especially the Belizean fans. Even the other international teams say our fans are the best to be around.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez