Pint-sized Janina Mayers of Queen’s College will?be?the youngest ever player to represent Barbados at the upcoming Caribbean Volleyball Junior Championship, slated?for?St Croix from March 30 to April 6.
Mayers, who turned 12 years last October after leaving the Christ Church Primary School, has the key job of playing libero for the Barbados team.
Mayers is accustomed to being on the big stage in every sense.
She has successfully competed at the Schools’ Body Fitness Show, capturing top honours the last two editions. Last season Mayers also played for the Barbados Volleyball Association’s Generation Next team.
The team for the Under-18 Championship will be captained by multi-talented Adrianne Bynoe of Alleyne School.
Bynoe, who has represented Barbados in netball, also plays basketball and football and is the current victrix ludorum for her school in athletics. Â
The tall, slim athlete comes from a sporting background as her dad Adrian Bynoe, plays for Chargers while her mother, Beverley Grant,
in addition to being a football, volleyball and basketball referee and netball umpire, has competed in the four sports with success.Bynoe is part of an Alleyne trio, also comprising Ashley Marshall and Tia Jones, which has been representing the St Andrew school in almost everything.
Marshall and Jones were originally selected to the squad. Â
Both Marshall and Jones had to opt out of the junior volleyball championship after first taking part in the youth section as they have to leave St Croix to represent Barbados in the junior netball tournament in St Vincent from April 11 to 17. Â
Jones is the captain of the volleyball youth team but she and Marshall have been replaced in the junior side by Mya Evelyn of Parkinson Memorial and Kayla James of Queen’s College. Â
James was recently named Most Improved Youth at the Barbados Volleyball Association’s 2011 ceremony while Bynoe copped the Most Outstanding Junior Player award.
Vice-captain of the Barbados junior team is Springer Memorial’s Shakira Jack.
The other members are Saskia Moseley of Harrison College, Adrianne Severin of The Lodge School, Tahirah Harewood of Christ Church Foundation, Michaela Cossey of Foundation/Barbados Community College, Ashley Roberts of Queen’s College, Deandra Small of Garrison, Tiffany Smith of Combermere and libero.
Manager Carol-Lyn Edghill is quietly optimistic of the team performing well to jumpstart Barbados’ aim of returning to regional volleyball supremacy.
“This team contains a number of tall and very talented players who have been playing well at the schools’ and domestic levels,” Edghill said.
“The consistency of training which they have been involved in and the obvious growth of the players suggest that we should do very well in St Croix against the likes of the home team, French sides and Trinidad and Tobago.” (KB)
