Belize Wins First-Ever Central American Men’s Volleyball Gold

Belize has made volleyball history, capturing its first-ever gold medal in senior men’s competition and earning the title of the top men’s volleyball team in Central America.  The Belize Men’s National Volleyball Team arrived at the Santa Elena border just after five o’clock this evening.  Our correspondent Vince Martinez was on hand, awaiting their arrival.

“This tournament we have been prepared for the last four months I think, but really only one month we were able to get the whole all the guys that come from out of the country and so forth. Since then we have been working towards this no ?  Basically after we had came in fourth for the Central American games it is basically from there we started preparing for this tournament cause we know we have the ability  to place well.”

Reporter: And they now when I heard from MVP I heard that you received MVP and you know how does that title feel and how does your team , ho do you feel about your team winning this victory and now preparing for another tournament that’s coming up next year? 

“Well, I feel good but I couldn’t do it without my teammates. They helped me a lot. The setters, the passers, blockers, defenders, everyone helped out. The coaches as well. Yeah, they helped secure the MVP title. So it’s a great feeling. The work continues. I continue to lead the team with my captain, Elton Anderson.”

“It’s an overwhelming feeling right now that we’re experiencing our first goal, it’s a historic moment so we got to soak that in and like coach said from the start, the work continues. We know that we have to prepare even harder because we’re going to meet bigger teams in the next competition so we have to work twice as hard to even place in that tournament.”

The Belize team defeated host country Costa Rica three sets to one in the championship match of the III AFECAVOL Men’s Final Four Championship in San José, Costa Rica. Belize took the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-18. Costa Rica responded by winning the third, 25-20, but Belize closed out the match with a 25-21 victory in the fourth set to secure the historic gold medal.  The achievement marks the first gold medal for a Belizean men’s volleyball team and the first gold for Belize at the senior level. The victory also qualifies Belize for the NORCECA Men’s Pan American Cup next year.  Belize also walked away with two of the tournament’s top individual honours. Francis Hauze was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Second Best Attacker, while Kyron Sutherland received the award for Best Blocker.  Belize finished atop the tournament standings, followed by Costa Rica with silver, Panama with bronze and Nicaragua in fourth place.  The historic championship caps off an impressive showing by the national team, which demonstrated strong performances across all aspects of the game throughout the tournament.