The 23rd Men's Central American Volleyball Championship, held an inauguration ceremony on Sunday for the opening of the games, hosted in Belize this year at the civic.
7 Central American teams are facing off in a series of games between August 6th and 12th, and only one will emerge Volleyball Champion of the Central Americas. Belize lost their first game against El Salvador on opening night, but will they be able to secure a win against Panama tonight? Jomarie Lanza followed this story.
On opening night of the 2023 Men's Central American Volleyball Championship, the Belize team saw its first victory slip through their fingertips, as El Salvador secured a victory by a hair's breadth, with a score of 31-30 in the decisive final set. But the boys are preparing to bounce back. We caught up with the team today during an intense workout where we found the team determined to redeem themselves in tonight's match against Panama.
Albert Humes, Head Coach
"Well as you all are aware the Belize team is participating in the 23rd Central American Male championship that we are hosting as you can see also and well our team, despite the loss last night I think we stay played well but we need to have short term memory and move onto the other team which is Panama tonight."
"What does this mean for Belize? In fact actually winning means a lot to be the #1 here in Central America because you gain the respect from other countries. It shows that a small country like Belize is improving and is doing well on the international scene and for the guys personally you know they have something that they can say that with all my hard work i've put in year in and year out this is what I have achieved."
Humes says that his players are seasoned, experienced and fit enough to handle the 5 hour a day workouts and push themselves out on the court. But behind these intense training session we asked the players whether the think they will be able to put forward a performance worthy of gold.
Darrel Avila, Outside Hitter
"Well so far its just the start of the tournament and we are positive that we will be able to keep those teams running because we are not going to give up easy and we just have to strategize and try to see how best we can perform against them."
"We've been training for the past four months, all of the players from team A B were well prepared. And well for me personally I just want to make sure that my teammates on the starting six is okay so I try to play my role i try to keep them positive during time outs and during practices that's my part."
Hakan Godoy, Middle Blocker
"Well so far it's been really great, I think we prepared very well, the only thing we missed was practice matches before the tournament so it was hard for us to adjust coming into this tournament."
"This isn't my first tournament but this is my first senior tournament, my first tournament was the U21 in Nicaragua, and coming into this tournament is just a really great experience for me."
Reporter
"And are you ready for tonight's game against Panama?"
Hakan Godoy, Middle Blocker
"Of course we are ready we stay read."
The accuracy of that boast will be determined tonight - the game starts at 7:30.
