After being denied in last year’s final by Alleyne School, Springer Memorial Secondary tasted victory on Friday in the Super Center 16 and Under Schools’ Volleyball Final. Springer defeated Christ Church Foundation 25-18, 25-18.
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Coleridge and Parry retained their Boys’ title and Springer Memorial got sweet revenge for their loss in last year’s final as the curtains came down on the Super Centre 16 and Under Schools’ Volleyball Competition, held recently at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium.
Springer Memorial won the Girls’ title with a 25-18, 25-28 win over Christ Church Foundation; while Coleridge and Parry defeated Queen’s College 25-14, 25-23 to win the Boys’.
Springer coach Julie Phillips, who is always on the sidelines with every Springer Memorial sports team, was confident in her girls even though all of them are still quite new to the sport. She noted that the girls were exposed to the sport at last year’s Under-19 competition and they had prepared all throughout the vacation with Patrick Oxley and Fernando Skeete.
Skeete was working double duty on Friday at the Wildey Gymnasium, as he is also the coach for Foundation. The veteran coach noted that although Springer won the title, they still need to work on their volleyball skills and especially get rid of their dependence on the one-ball attack.
“Volleyball is about pass, set and spike. When you have the one-ball attack, it throws your team out of sync. At this level – the juniors – it worked to their advantage. They won, but in my opinion they were not playing volleyball,” said Skeete.
Coleridge and Parry were only pushed by Queen’s College in the dying stages of their second set, but the likes of Kemal Hinds and Aaron Griffith proved to be too much to handle for the Husbands lads.
Coach Ramon Armstrong noted that while the guys were confident coming into the final as defending champions, they still worked on their mental preparation to keep focused.
“These players are mostly involved in volleyball and all of the players were on the team last year. Next year I will only lose two players. I try to start the volleyball programme from first form. Once they come into the school I try to get a group together so that once a group moves up, I will still have some younger players coming up,” said Armstrong.
Kemar Hinds was the Boys’ MVP and the Most Outstanding Setter and Aaron Griffith was the Most Outstanding Blocker (Boy). The Girls’ MVP was Serena Gibson of Springer Memorial.
