PONCE, Puerto Rico, June 13th, 2024.- Salvador Dijols Coliseum in Ponce, Puerto Rico is ready to host the 2024 NORCECA Men’s Final Four this weekend and coaches came with high expectations to kick off the 2024 season.
Coach of Dominican Republic – José Gutiérrez: We came with the goal of competing and giving the best possible show knowing that we are incomplete, but the commitment of the players who are here is to give their best. Our players are a base of four veterans plus athletes from our under-23 team that are making the transition to the senior team. Our biggest rivals in this tournament are current champs Mexico and Puerto Rico since our level is equal to theirs. It is a tournament that will be defined by whoever does the best and makes less mistakes.
Coach of Puerto Rico – Alberto Jamille Torres: Very excited to play in Puerto Rico and my expectations are quite high. It is the first time we have brought together the entire group, including athletes who play in Europe and programs in the United States. We have been making changes in the past few years and we have a young team mixed with some experienced players. The goal is to win, representing our flag in our country is something great and we are going to give everything to win the championship.
Coach of Mexico – Carlos Eduardo Schwanke: First of all, I am happy to be here with Mexico, it is the first time that I am in charge of this team, and I have very high expectations of the level that we are going to show in this championship, and we hope to perform better than we did previously. I’m getting to know my players now, we’ve only been training together for a month and although we have some athletes with injuries, we are here with our best team and we hope they understand the new game system and feel comfortable on the court, improving every moment.
Coach of Guatemala – Reider Lucas Mora: We have only three weeks working with this group, but we believe that we can compete well in this first international commitment. I think the boys are going to play and have a good result in this competition. We have a team in which we have included youth athletes who we believe can help a lot with the strength of the group. This year we have Central American and international events, and we hope that this event will also serve as preparation for us.
The NORCECA Men’s Final Four will award FIVB World Ranking Points for Volleyball Nations League.