Photo: Gold medallists – national team motorcade
by William Ysaguirre
BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 22, 2024
The Belize national under-21 volleyball women’s historic Gold medal victory at the XX U-21 Women’s Central American championships prompted the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Council to congratulate them at a press conference at the Marion Jones Sports Complex and honor them with a victory motorcade through the streets of Belize City on Monday morning, July 22.
It is Belize’s first ever Gold medal win in a Central American volleyball competition, which has made the entire nation proud, Minister of Sports Hon. Rodwell Ferguson noted in his congratulatory remarks. He admitted that the Ministry of Sports’ budget is minuscule in comparison to the task with which it is charged, but he pledged his ministry’s continued support for young people’s development in sports. He acknowledged that this is no mean task but vital to the nation, since young people under 25 years of age represent 68 percent of the population. He cited the 41 sports federations which come under the umbrella of the National Sports Council, and how the ministry has explored innovative ways to raise funds to support Belizean sports, by launching the Support Sports BZ app on June 21, through which Belizeans and their friends all over the world may contribute financially to sports in Belize.
The Gold medal victory would not have been possible without the tireless years of work by coach Lupita Quan in promoting volleyball development, noted Minister of State for Sports, Hon. Gilroy Usher, Sr. He cited the outstanding example of the Stars Gym on Princess Margaret Drive, completed in 2011, a $300,000 investment, which clearly manifests Coach Lupita’s commitment to the sport, to teach young girls and boys from primary school age and older to play volleyball.
The golden girls have broken a glass ceiling and taken Belizean volleyball to another level, for which NSC director Iris Centeno also congratulated the girls, for showing that women can be winners in sports, just like men. They can now serve as role models for other young girls coming up in sports, she noted happily, as she encouraged other female athletes to follow their example.
It has been a long road to victory for president Allan Sharp of the Belize Volleyball Association, who first began coaching volleyball in 1998, the year that Belizean men won the Gold at the CARICOM basketball championships at the Civic Center. He noted that while Belizean softball women had also won Gold in the Caribbean in the 1970’s, it was this year’s Gold medal win that today’s young generation will remember.
Investing in sports is the single best investment for social development in Belize, he affirmed, as it helps the athlete not only to excel in sports, but to succeed in life and to contribute to the national development. He thanked the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Committee for their support in hiring Cuban coaches to help with volleyball development, such as Coach Jose “Tito” Fontes Quintero, who guided the girls to their Gold medal performance. There is much more this team can achieve if they stick together, he noted, for it is a very young team, as many of the girls are fresh out of high school.
Height alone isn’t everything, cited team captain Gareth Bruce, 5’3″, as she encouraged other Belizean young girls to join the game, as volleyball can be a gateway to scholarship opportunities. Bruce has been playing volleyball since she was five years old, while attending St. Martin De Porres RC School, and she recalled how many of her friends would ask her why she was lugging a large, heavy bag of equipment for practice after school every day. She stuck to her purpose, training with the Stars Volleyball Club, and she went on to win national championships with the St. Catherine Academy volleyball team, a success which won her a full tuition, athletic scholarship to Easter Wyoming College in the USA in June 2021. She is now finishing up in her second year for her Master’s degree.
Nisaan Martinez, the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, said she will be starting at the University of Alabama in August. Middle blocker Blessed Omamurhe, who hammered 14 kills and served an ace against Salvador and scored 6 points against Guatemala, will also be travelling to the USA to begin her studies at Panola College in Cartage, Texas.
Belize’s path to the Gold has evolved from success after success at the AFECAVOL Central American women’s volleyball championships over the years. Belize won bronze at the 2012 World Championship qualifier in Panama, and Bronze again at the 2013 World Championship qualifier for NORCECA in Curacao. Assistant coach Nelissa Ramirez was a part of the senior women’s team who won Silver at the Belize Civic Center in 2018, while the Under-23 women also won Silver in Managua, Nicaragua in 2019, and the Under-18 girls won Silver in San Carlos, Costa Rica in 2019. Belize also won Silver when the BVA hosted the Under-21 AFECAVOL championships at the Civic Center in 2022, and Silver again when BVA hosted the Under-19 championships in 2023. Many of the Gold medalists were also a part of the Under-23 team who won Bronze in Tegucigalpa, Honduras just last month.