And while he hopes the basketball boys bounce back, what about the male volleyballers who already proved their Central American dominance earlier this month in Costa Rica?
Many long-time fans voiced disappointment with how the history-making team was received when they returned. One former player, Bryton Codd, went as far as saying that these athletes who represent Belize deserve more. We asked Daly if he believes what is being done is enough:
Devin Daly, Minister of State for Youth and Sports
"I don't believe they were disrespected, I think the parade was well received, we had dinner with them. Myself, the minister Anthony Mahler and our CEO, we had dinner with them at Grand Resort. We also gave them a small contribution, a small token for their hard work and I, first time I'm hearing that one."
Reporter:
"One of the posts from former player Bryton Codd was that these athletes need more. When they come back to Belize you know, they need land, some of them are still paying student loans."
"What's your comments to the suggestions that he made?"
Devin Daly:
"I think we are open to coming to the table but remember for the Ministry of Sports we don't even give sporting federation subventions so I think the contributions for federations to actually develop them, to actually providing some financing is something that we're possibly exploring before we even talk about personal contributions or personal compensations for athletes who represented us well. So I think there's levels to this but before all of that I think we need we need to continue developing the Ministry, developing the different disciplines and supporting the federations in ways that we can."
