The picture is of a view from the hard court at the Carenage of Fort St. George. It is at the top of the picture, and is a historic post, overlooking the entire area of St. George. It a place of infamy as this was the location coup forces brought a kidnapped Maurice Bishop, former beloved prime minister in the '80s, and publicly beheaded him. The current prime minister is Dr. Thomas Tillman. I am thankful he supports athletics and allowed my visit.
Today we had another coaching clinic session for all secondary school and ministry coaches. We had 21 coaches attend and I felt it was another good session. We discussed practice organization, motivational techniques, and how to outline a practice. Mid-morning we went outside and went over setting, serving, blocking and hitting. I had salt-fish for lunch (one of my favorites) and in the afternoon, we went over various volleyball games and drills.
There is only ONE thing a Grenadian is afraid of (I have been told)....RAIN! Today of course, at about 2pm, it started to rain, lightly. About 50 primary (grade) school students had just entered the court area, and when they felt the first few raindrops, ran to cover! They happened to run to our side of the court where there was a slight covered porch area. My coaches paused for a second, looked at each, and continued to play!!!! The primary school students watched in amazement as these adults not only continued playing in the rain, but were laughing, celebrating points, and playing some pretty good volleyball. Soon, the children began clapping and cheering....it was a pretty incredible moment and I was very proud.
At 5:00pm, I had a meeting with the Grenadian Olympic Committee. Members present included Mr. Rayston La Hel, Ms. Veda Bruno Victor, Mr. Ray Roberts, and Mrs. Lucy Steele. They went over the purpose of my visit and thanked me for coming. I, in turn, thanked them for the opportunity, thanked my university for allowing me this opportunity, and listened in earnest as they explained their vision for volleyball in Grenada. They want this sport to emerge as a primary sport and acknowledged volleyball's the world-wide appeal and internatioanl opportunities. They asked that I report to them my findings on the state of volleyball on the Island. We talked for about 1 hour and it was a very good meeting.
In the evening, we had the Women's National Team training. We covered general skills the first portion of practice and spent the last hour going over Base Defense, Spike Defense, and Free-ball defense. It was a good session. We had about 22 athletes at practice. Nanan and I agree this is too many too effectively train and get ready for competition in June. We will either make cuts this week, or tell players they are welcome to attend and drill, however, many will be pulled from scrimmage situations so we can prepare the actual team. We lack hitting firepower, do not block real well, and serving is a question mark, but we have the potential to be a good defensive team. This will have to do. Our goal....improve serving and serve receive and win with defense.
It is important to note that friday we had a meeting with Pastor Soukup, Grace Lutheran Church. He seems like a wonderful man and is very interested in helping volleyball in Grenada. We are working with him, as a representative of Mr. Fisher, to secure equipment for both national teams. I'm hopeful it happens soon.
Water today....yes!!!!! It was only a slow trickle in the shower, but it felt great! Observation...Mangos are natures dental floss....man do they stick in your teeth!!! I have a new friend...a lizard runs by every morning as I type my blog. Today he stopped 2 feet away and just stared at me for about 2 minutes. I wonder how they are in soup?????? I'm sure I've eaten some without knowing it :)
Respect and love.
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