A tremendous success!
That is the description which long serving president of the Barbados Volleyball Association (BVA) John Griffith has given of the 2013 Goddard Enterprises Limited Division one season which concluded on Monday.
“Although the 2013 season saw both Flow Sentry Brokers Deacons women and Chargers men winning both the knockouts and leagues titles, the consistent challenges from the likes of Deacons men, Progressive, Cawmere, and the Juniors along with Brydens Rockets, Chargers and Warrens provided excited fixtures during the season.
“Those competitive battles led to the spectators returning to volleyball and we also enjoyed tremendous media coverage,” stated the BVA chief.
Griffith indicated that over 150 matches were staged at the Wildey Gymnasium with little disruptions and without any major concerns of protests or disciplinary problems.
“In the past we have struggled to complete all of the fixtures as teams would default matches when it became obvious that they would not place in the top three.
“However, this year everyone played to the end which proved commendable as even those teams like Foundation United men and RBC Carlton as well as Club United women brought a big fans support to the gym and they rooted for their teams even though the teams were facing cellar placements,” added Griffith.
League coordinator Andrew Hoyte pointed to the BVA opting to stage the division one season in the last quarter of the year as being pivotal to the success of the season.
“We suffered little disruptions and even when we had to cancel a fixture the Gym was very accommodating in providing a slot to reschedule the matches.
“In addition, playing our first division season in that slot has given us unparalleled media coverage since very few national competitions are played during that period,” said Hoyte.
The BVA president pointed to the concern of a shortage of officials which often led to the late start of games resulting in a later than planned conclusion of the matches.
“Games starting and finishing late was a big problem as many of our juniors were involved as scorers and families coming out to watch key games often had to leave as our three games night preceded school days.
“Hopefully the cadre of juniors who were trained to become scorers during this season will develop to at least assist with refereeing some of the early matches for the new season. Some of those juniors also looked very impressive on the court and as they develop along with the more experienced campaigners volleyball at the club and national level will continue to rise,” said Griffith.
“Our umbrella sponsor Goddard Enterprises Limited continue to express satisfaction in our volleyball product and with the spiralling value of that product the BVA has challenged all of the division teams to relentlessly pursue club sponsorship for 2014,” concluded Griffith.