It was a moment that the men's volleyball team waited decades for the moment when they realized they won the Central American Final 4. The tournament took place in Costa Rica and, for the first time in history, the gold is coming home to Belize. And while these athletes had to train relentlessly to reach this pinnacle, they said that their biggest strength was their unity and how well they played together. But is this the start of a winning streak for them? Courtney Menzies spoke to a couple of members of the team during their layover in Mexico City and has this story.
This was the moment when Belize's men's volleyball team made history by winning the Central American Final 4. It's a win that has taken them almost 2 decades and according to the team's captain, unity is what made the difference this time.
Elton Anderson, Captain/Setter
"It's an overwhelming feeling. It's something that has long been in the waiting. We're just super excited to be coming back home with this gold to Belize."
Courtney Menzies, Reporter
"What do you think was the thing that made the difference this time around?"
Elton Anderson, Captain/Setter
"The biggest thing this time around was that we had our international guys home almost 2 months before the tournament, which helped us with our chemistry and unity. The past tournaments, the guys that were abroad and in school, or playing international, they would have just come and meet us while we were playing and just start playing and then it would have taken us two or three games to get our chemistry. So this time around, we had everybody home and all training was with all fourteen players. Every night we were training for 3 hours together, we built the chemistry and unity that we needed to reach the gold in this tournament."
And the long road to victory did not come without some humiliating bumps along the road, which Anderson reflected on.
Elton Anderson, Captain/Setter
"I'm the player on the team that has been a part of the male national team the longest, over 15+ years, almost 20 years. When I started we were what they called the beat box in Central America where everybody wanted to play us because they knew they could beat us. My first tournament the scores were 25-5, 25-7, 25-6 and then we grew, we stuck with it, we kept on training, a couple tournaments over the past 5 to 10 years, we kept knocking on the door third, second, third, second, but never first. But this tournament we felt like this was ours because the training was there, the coaching staff were there, the players bought into what the coaches wanted. Like I said, it really paid off."
But those low scores at the start did not discourage them and over the years, Anderson has had the privilege of training the players that contributed to this big win.
Courtney Menzies, Reporter
"A lot of the young players you brought up many of them so how does it feel to see them being able to shine now?"
Elton Anderson, Captain/Setter
"Well that one gives me cold seed, that made me cry last night because some of these kids I started to train when they were 8, now they're 18, 19 years old and to do it with them is such a tremendous overwhelming feeling. They were crying, they all said, 'Coach, thank you for everything.' They love me, 'Thanks for believing in me.' So that really swelled my heart last night."
And aside from the win, emotions were high when Belize's own Francis Hauze was named MVP.
Francis Hauze, MVP
"It was a great feeling at first, I was happy that we won and then of course we got the awards with me and Kyron, but it's always a good feeling getting rewarded for your hard work. I've put in a lot of work for the past 11 years, I've been playing volleyball for the past 11 years, and now we've finally gotten the gold that we wanted and we got the individual awards."
And now with this win, the team believes this is just the start of a dominant streak:
Francis Hauze, MVP
"This tournament shows that we have the length on the bench to carry this first place a long way in Central America and it also shows that we are really dominant so we could last the next 10 years if we wanted to."
Elton Anderson, Captain/Setter
"We believe that with this group because this group is a mixture of old and a lot of youth, not old but veteran and a lot of youths, and the youths that we have on this team are very promising, most of them are on scholarships in America of which they're gaining more experience and I believe this is the start of many to come."
Elton Anderson
"We plan to do a little celebration as a team and we're hoping that the government or sports council can do something for us, I believe they will have something planned for us, we're just waiting to see what's the next move when we reach Belize."
The team expects to land in Belize at 8:00 tonight.
