My First Day - tuesday April 27th

My first day involved mostly meetings.

I am staying in a guest house owned by Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Mr. Conrad Francis. It is a wonderful house, very comfortable with a morning view overlooking Grand Anse harbor. I am about 1.5 miles from the beach. To the right is my residence.

My day started with Nanan picking me up at 8am.

Our first meeting of the day was with the Honorable Patrick Simmons, Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports. He was a charismatic man and I found out he played soccer at an American University in the day, at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. He stated his support to develop volleyball in Grenada.

My next meeting was with Mrs. Veda Bruno-Victor, Permanent Secretary. Another charming individual, forceful, confident, and very determined. She reiterated the purpose of my visit and said it was two-fold:

1. Help develop the administrative levels of volleyball to promote the continued existence and prosperity of volleyball in Grenada.

2. Develop a plan to Promote volleyball on the Island with the intent to increase interest, publicity, and potentially sponsorship.

There is another purpose that was mentioned too....they want to win! It is apparent this is a very competitive country and they take pride in their athletics as well as their culture. They want volleyball to get on the same level as cricket and Track and Field. And they want to win the Windward Islands games and the OECS games.

After this meeting, I had a 10 minute television interview with the Government Information System (GIS). This is a local broadcasting station that transmits Island-wide. It went well.

Following that, I met the Mr. Richard Simmons, Press Secretary and the President of the Grenada Volleyball Association. He stated the need for 'club' development as a means to continue availability of the sport outside the short school season.

I also met several of the national team coaches, including the cricket coach, the soccer coach, and the basketball coach.

It was a very impressive day and I am very excited at the level of interest and support.

In the evening I witnessed my first Women's national team practice. There were 19 participants and I was truly amazed at the improvement since my last visit 3 years ago. Nanan is doing a remarkable job and the team runs an organized offense and defense, utilizes plays, plays very aggressively, and communicates loudly!! I was most impressed at the improvement in platform passing. Three years ago all contacts were overhead with the fingers. While this is good, I believe platform passing was a must to dig hard driven balls and receive aggressive serves.

Also, three years ago I felt the best athletes were not involved. It was a small team (not tall) and of average athleticism. Now, they boast two athletes over 6'1, have tremendous athletes playing, and have a good mix of experience and youth.

It was a very exciting day and I am ready to begin. Tomorrow I observe the Men's National Team.