Christian Francois and former junior team captain Brandon Legall have been included in a 12-member senior men's volleyball squad by coach Gideon Dickson for the Seventh Men's Pan American Cup in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from July 16 to 21. The team to be led by long-serving captain Nolan Tash will have its final training session tomorrow at the Eastern Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Tacarigua before leaving for Santo Domingo on Saturday morning. At the eight-team Pan American Cup, the 33rd world ranked T&T will compete in a very tough group involved with Argentina, Canada and Dominican Republic. The Argentines are the highest world-ranked team in the group at eighth, while Canada is 18th and Dominican Republic, 43rd.
The Gideon Dickson-coached local squad is coming off some impressive performances at the Norceca Olympic Qualifiers in Long Beach, California in May where it placed seventh and will be keen to build on that showing. Speaking yesterday, Dickson said it will be another tough outing for his team with the inclusion of South American teams in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. He said: "We have never played against those teams before and if we get to the quarterfinals it will be a big achievement for us. "The guys are now coming off of playing matches against our NORCECA rivals in Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Mexico, USA and Cuba so we know what to expect from those teams, but the South American trio will be another experience for us."
Dickson also pointed out the Pan American Cup will serve as good preparation for the T&T squad as it eyes a second straight title at the Senior Caribbean Championship which takes place in St Croix, US Virgin Islands from July 16 to 21. In Dominican Republic, four-time champion and reigning Olympic gold medal winners' USA, currently ranked sixth in the world faces top ranked team and defending champion Brazil, Venezuela (#16) and Mexico (23#) in Pool B. With regards to the selection of the team, Dickson said it will basically be the same as the one that competed in Los Angeles, with the exception of Kevin Nimrod and Kevin Amarali.
Seventh Men's Pan American Volleyball Cup
Venue: Santo Domingo, Dom Republic July 7-15:
Pool A:
July 9:
Argentina vs Canada, 1pm
Dominican Republic vs T&T, 7pm
July 10:
Argentina vs T&T, 1pm
Dominican Republic vs Canada, 7pm
July 11:
Canada vs T&T, 3pm
Dominican Republic vs Argentina, 7pm
Pool B:
July 9:
Brazil vs Mexico, 3pm
USA vs Venezuela, 5pm
July 10:
USA vs Mexico, 3pm
Brazil vs Venezuela, 5pm
July 11:
Venezuela vs Mexico, 1pm
Brazil vs USA, 5pm
July 12: Quarterfinals:
2nd B vs 3rd A
2nd A vs 3rd B
July 13:
Classification Fifth to Eighth
Semifinals
July 14:
Classification Seventh to Eighth
Classification Fifth to Sixth
Third place
Final
T&T men's Pan Am Cup volleyball squad: Sean Morrison, Nolan Tash (captain), Marc-Anthony Honore, Ryan Mahadeo, Jessel Davis, Christian Francois, Saleem Ali, Brandon Legall, Joshua Mohammed, Ryan Stewart, Simon Blake, Akim Bushe.
Technical staff: Gideon Dickson (coach), David Camacho (assistant coach), Arthur Robinson (trainer)
