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Jamaica - Team Composition


Team manager SUZETTE BAKER
Head coach DAVID JACK
Assistant coach GATASHEU BONNER
Doctor
Therapist / trainer CHRISTOPHER RICHARDSON
Journalist

Name Lastname Shirt Name Birthdate Height Weight Spike Block Club
Dany Wilson JAMAICA 10/12/1982 200 90 0 0 VIKINGS
MARK LEWIS JAMAICA 20/10/1980 198 86 0 0 Vikings
Donovan Richards JAMAICA 0 0 0 0
Parrish Offer JAMAICA 0 0 0 0
Errol Smith JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 VIKINGS
Namarie Gordon JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 Venus All Stars
Ricardo Chong JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 UWI
Andre McLean JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 UWI
Richard Reynolds JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 UWI
Delford Morgan JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 UWI Club
Dellan Brown JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 Vikings
Conaradio Taylor JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 Vikings
Shavoy Irving JAMAICA 14/03/1988 0 0 0 0 G. C. Foster College
Collin Henry JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 Creole
Robert Andrews JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 G.C. Foster College
Delroy Salmon JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 UWI Club
Omar Fraser JAMAICA 0 0 0 0 UWI Club
C=Captain L=Libero

Staying up to date!

A few people have asked me where they can follow along with my volleyball down in Jamaica. I've found this website that has alot of good information. I'll also be trying to keep my blog up to date barring I have internet all the time.
I leave tomorrow for Jamaica, and I'm getting quite excited!

http://www.norceca.org/TEAMS-%202009%20WCQT-MEN-Kingston,%20Jamaica.htm

Former Regi star takes his talents to Jamaican team

from the Kingston Whig Standard
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1558782

VOLLEYBALL: Parrish Offer, fresh off his first season as a pro player in Denmark, will play at world championship qualifier
Posted By MIKE KOREEN

For Parrish Offer, it was pretty much a no-brainer.

When the Regiopolis-Notre Dame graduate was told there was a chance he could represent Jamaica in international volleyball competition, the local lad might as well have said, 'Ya, mon' on the spot.

The well-spoken, Oshawaborn, Kingston-raised young fellow, who just returned from his first professional season in Denmark, recently received his Jamaican citizenship (his mother, Pat, was born in the Caribbean country).

Next week, Offer, 24, is off to the other Kingston -- in Jamaica -- to play for the country in a world championship qualifying tournament, where many family members will see the McMaster University product bumping, setting and spiking for the first time.

"The thing I'm happiest about is a whole side of family gets to see me play," Offer said yesterday during a quick trip back to his old stomping ground -- the Regi gym.

"They've only seen pictures and videos. Just the opportunity for them to see me play is really special. Having a Jamaican flag on my chest makes it all that much better (for them)."

While the proud Canadian would love to represent Canada one day, Offer admits he's not under serious consideration to play on this country's national team.

Canada is ranked 21st in the world, while Jamaica is 66th.

"I know my limitations," Offer said. "I'm not at that level (of the Canadian team), I know where I am. This is a good way for me to go get some good international experience. Plus, I get to go to Jamaica for free."

Just before he left for Denmark in September, Dave Preston, Offer's coach at McMaster University in Hamilton, told him about a former player of his who played internationally in the Caribbean because of family ties and suggested he look into the possibility.

So Offer contacted the Jamaican Volleyball Association, who didn't take long to warm up to the Canadian after examining his resume.

Offer completed his requirements for citizenship while in Denmark and finally got the green light to come down less than two weeks ago.

Offer is travelling with his girlfriend and will receive free airfare, accommodation and food.

"I'm going in completely not knowing (what to expect in terms of competition)," Offer said of a six-country competition that includes the Cayman Islands, Haiti and Mexico, St. Lucia and the Bahamas.

The top two teams advance to the next round of world championship qualifying in Cuba later this summer.

"I'm expecting to contribute very well," Offer said. "I was just want to give them a little bit of international experience, playing at a high level."

That experience came in the top league in Denmark this past season, playing for Middelfart. The team, which advanced to league semifinal play, featured two other Canadians, a Brazilian, a Norwegian and a Japanese coach.

"We had all the continents covered," Offer said with a smile. "We communicated in English, but there was a little bit of broken English here and there."

Offer, who also coached a couple of girls teams for the club while he was in Denmark, has a contract offer to return next season, though he's exploring the market before marking a final decision.

Offer enjoyed his time in Denmark -- crowds were usually in the hundreds -- and also travelled to the Netherlands and Spain.

"It was a really good learning experience," he said. "It took me a little while to adjust. The game is a little bigger and a little faster (than the university game in Canada).

"It was a great place to get started."

Summer has arrived

Hi all, we've finished our season and playoffs now. Although the playoffs didn't quite go the way we wanted (we finished 4th), it was still a pretty successful season which brought our team together. I'm going on vacation now to Amsterdam, Spain, and Morocco for a couple weeks before returning to Canada on April 28th.
See everyone soon in Canada!

Playoffs have arrived!

Quick playoff update. We won our first match against Marienlyst 3-1 at home and lost tonite 3-0 at their place. We play Sunday in the final match of the best two out of three in Odense. I'll write more on the series after that match

http://www.tv2fyn.dk/video/20735

tv video

Volleyball Recap!

First off let me apologize for the long time since my last post. Alot has developed so I'll begin where I left off. Way back on March 4th we played Gentofte, the only team to beat us since Christmas, who was also red hot and had won 7 in a row putting them in first place. We were looking for redemption of our previous two losses, the first a 5 set thriller in Middelfart and the second a 3-0 effort in Copenhagen. Alas, it was not the day to do it. We came out quite flat, actually getting aced on 2 of the first 4 serves. That immediately set the tone for the first set and we lost 25-13. We regrouped in the second sharpening up our passing, and using our middles to score and won 25-17. Gentofte then turned their serving pressure up for the next two sets and won 25-16, 25-22. The match was all about ball control, they served better than we could pass and they passed better than we served. It also helps when your best player goes 19 for 24 wit 2 errors! Their leftside was pretty unstoppable for us and something we'll have to work on if we meet them in the final.

Next, on March 15th we had a match again Ikast. This win would secure 3rd place going into the playoffs and proved to be a good test for us to stay on track. They have some good young players but we were hoping to exploit some weaknesses up the middle. The game was a less than outstanding match with both teams making lots of errors, making the flow of the match seem long and drawn out. Either way we walked away with a 3-1 victory (25-18,22-25,25-20, 25-20).

Finally, on March 21st we played out final regular season match at Holte. After already securing third place the results of this match did not affect anything, however it was a very good opportunity for us to sharpen up our offense and try different things. Most of the guys on the team trained hard right through the week with a few extra workouts to be able to taper for the semi finals. This meant we were a playing a little bit tired and sore. We came out firing right out of the opening serve. Both teams traded points until about 19-19 when we made a push to 23-. We sided out and won the set 25-20. The next set we came out a little flat and got down 4-0. Mizuno was forced to call a time out to get us back on track. We played from behind most of the set until about the 20 point mark where we made our push with aggressive blocking and defense. We took the second set 25-22. The third set was another great battle with both teams trading points in side out fashion. However our blocking forced Holte to commit a couple hitting errors late in the set and we won 25-22 completing the match and our regular season.

The second half of the season has been quite successful for us as a team. The season is broken down into three parts as you play each team 3 times. The first round we went 2-4, the second 5-1 and the third 5-1. We've been playing alot better which is to be expected when guys start to feel more and more comfortable paying with each other. Next up is game 1 of the semi finals vs Marienlyst on Saturday March 28th.