PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, March 30, 2023.- Mushtaque Mohammed, the former T&T Volleyball Federation President and current president of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association CAZOVA was inducted into the First Citizens Sport Foundation Hall of Fame in Trinidad and Tobago.
The 60-year-old Mohammed was one of the nine current or former national sports personalities who were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2022 First Citizens Sports Foundation Awards ceremony themed ‘Passing the Baton’ which was held at MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain, on Sunday.
The winner of the 1993 WITCO Sport Foundation Administrators Award as head of the T&TVF Mohammed, and a member of the Federation International Volleyball (FIVB) Executive said, “this recognition is indeed a humbling and proud experience”.
He added, “When I started in administration it was never to get recognition but to assist the development of the sport, however, being recognized for your contributions is always a good feeling especially when it is from a national perspective”.
The Piparo-born Mohammed added, “Induction into the Hall of fame is a great recognition, and it means that my involvement is now etched into the history of Sports in T&T”.
A Vice President both at the FIVB and North Central American and Caribbean Confederation of Volleyball (NORCECA) Mohammed stated, “I came from a very humble beginning playing sport in my village in Piparo and with the discipline, dedication and the pursuit of excellence, I was able to make this contribution to sport as a volunteer, serving selflessly at all levels to positively impact the youth and our society at large”.
Among his achievements, Mohammed was key to the success of the T&T senior women’s volleyball team’s qualification to two major events, the FIVB Women’s Grand Prix and World Championships, the first time ever in both instances as a result of his assistance to the T&TVF in planning and developmental program which commenced in 2009 and formed the pathway for T&T to qualify for the 2018 FIVB World Championships which was held in Tokyo Japan.
Mohammed was also the pioneer and first president of the National Schools Volleyball Association, which was formed in September 1990, and assisted with organized tournaments in the schools and paved the way for the development of our younger volleyball players to become National players.
The development of sport was trusted upon him in NORCECA in 2001 and since then the sport in the islands and Central America has grown significantly, which led to him being recognized by the FIVB and appointed as President of its Development Commission in 2016.
The FIVB has trusted the Development Commission on his shoulders since May 2017 and the development of the sport has initiated many new projects to enhance the growth of both volleyball and beach volleyball.
As an official Mohammed has participated as supervisor of numerous multi-sports events such as the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, Pan American Games, NORCECA Tournaments, FIVB World championships, World Cups and three Olympic Games.