Carolyn Johnson, Gleaner Writer

When it seemed all else had failed, the Bahamian sports ministry came through for the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JAVA), arranging sponsorship for the island's national senior male team to participate at the Caribbean Volleyball Championship.

JAVA had announced last week that both the male and female national senior teams would not be attending the championship because the association was broke.

But, fittingly described as nothing short of a miracle in a press release issued by the association, JAVA president Pat Garel said she "was personally telephoned (on Tuesday) by the Minister of Sports of The Bahamas, the Honourable Neville Wisdom, with news that he had arranged sponsorship to cover all expenses for the national senior male team to participate in the upcoming Caribbean Volleyball Championship in Bahamas".

As a result, the 12-member team left the island yesterday for the Bahamas. The team will play its first match on Monday against the U.S. Virgin Islands.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

Although some prayers have been answered, JAVA is still praying for another miracle as it is currently struggling with close to a million dollars worth of debt. However, the association believes its financial answer lies in better marketing of the sport, with a "repositioning of the marketing strategy" to make volleyball more attractive and exciting.

"We need to better market the sport to attract sponsorship so that we will move forward," Garel said.

One of these marketing tools will be beach volleyball.

"Beach volleyball is huge everywhere else. We are not marketing what could be used as a bigger drawing card to put on tournaments to earn money to assist the sport," she explained.

While the president agrees that the lack of funds and resources are a major drawback to the development of the sport, she says the association is still pursuing its plans for the sport.

RECRUITING

Inclusive in JAVA's development plans are islandwide recruiting of players with recruiting starting at the primary level, getting better qualified coaches and an improved schools league.

Garel said she would also like to assist her athletes with scholarships to help with further development and the building of a well-rounded person and more organised training with players housed in one location.

"Our out-of-town players have to do a lot of travelling," she explained.

A more immediate plan, however, is the construction of a volleyball court at Independence Park, National Stadium. Although the team regularly uses the volleyball facilities at the University of the West Indies and the G.C. Foster Sports College, they have none of their own.

"We have no facility designated as a volleyball playing surface that we have access to anytime we want to train and play," she said regrettably.