Belize City, July 11, 2022 – With great enthusiasm to return to the courts after three years of inactivity in this category. This is how the teams of the five countries that will compete for the gold medal in the XIX Central American U-21 Women’s Volleyball Championship, in Belize City, were shown.
Honduras was the champion at home in 2019, with Guatemala and El Salvador accompanying them on the podium, but Belize has had good performances in recent years in the minor and major categories.
The national coaches foresee a very even tournament, where the mental part will be essential to be among the first places.
William Fernández Pizat, Coach of Guatemala: “We haven’t played for quite some time, some almost three years, but the team is prepared from a physical, tactical and mental point of view, so we aspire to be in the fight for the title.”
“The levels of the teams are very even and make the tournament very competitive. We have three athletes who participated in the Senior National Team last year and some in the Honduran Sub 20. We have a good attack, very powerful, we’ll see how it goes with that mix of anxiety and joy to play again that they all have”.
Claudia Noguera, coach of Nicaragua: “Many players have had almost four years of inactivity, there is anxiety and we must recover the rhythm on the court of these Central American Championships. We have been working for a long time with very young people, but they are very committed and have a lot of responsibility to represent their country”.
“It will be an even tournament and that is the good thing, that in our region there is equality in the performance of the teams and the competition becomes more attractive.”
Noé Fabián Aguilar, coach of El Salvador: “We have a very excited team to start the tournament, there are a couple of experienced players, but above all we have a lot of youth and there is unity in the team, something that helps us do things well. We are confident that if one fails, there is another player to do the job better and they are all very united”.
“All the teams have quality, there is a lot of parity in these categories and no team is a favourite. The girls are very excited and we believe we can have a good tournament”.
Marvin Ulloa, coach of Honduras: “Honduras has just played the Pan American Cup of the category in Mexico and 10 players repeat, we also have the setter who could not travel to Mexico and our libero who had to do the job of passer. We also brought back one of our tallest players, Rocio Durón, and that strengthens us as a team to try to defend the title”.
“We hope that the girls are prepared, we have worked, although we have only been here for a few months, but we believe that we have a good group. We hope it will be an even competition, we all have the same opportunities, where mental work is very important”.
José Ramón Fontés, coach of Belize: “The locality also represents some pressure, we have several under 19s, but also some experienced under 23s and older. We have a great preparation, we haven’t competed for a long time, but the team is going to meet expectations and above all give a good show ”
“I think it will be a very even competition, with many emotions, the one that can best face the psychological part due to the pressure… We worked about two months in preparation with games against older players, men and even in a tournament outside the country and the team has increased their competitive level.
The tournament begins this Tuesday, July 12 at 4:30 p.m. with the match between El Salvador and Honduras, followed by the inauguration and at 7:30 p.m. Belize debuts against Nicaragua.
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