Volleyball team heads to China

A DELEGATION of 16 women’s volleyball athletes and three support staff departed the island for a two-month training stint in China on Sunday. Women’s volleyball was among the disciplines selected to participate in a three-year technical cooperation project on sport between the governments of Jamaica and China.

The project began in 2018 and was due for completion in 2020, but faced delays on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. This programme has left an indelible mark and was the turning point in the lives of several of Jamaica’s young women volleyball athletes.

Of the athletes that took part in the programme in 2018 and 2019, six – Keshan Livingston, Anesia Edwards, Kristina Lumsden, Chevonna Lewis, Erica Harris and Yolanda Miller – would go on to be a part of Jamaica’s senior women’s volleyball team that created history by winning Jamaica’s first-ever title at the 2023 CAZOVA Women’s Championship in Suriname.

Livingston received the award for best setter, while Edwards was the second best middle blocker in Suriname.

This time around, the women set to benefit are: Danielle Watson (UTech); Zoya Callame (Knox College); Jody Williams (Iona High School); Sherefa Morris (Iona High School); T’ Amoy Stewart (Knox College); Ramona Halstead (Moneague College); Jaysira Johnson (Moneague College); Kalaysia Blake (Campion College); Jodiann Myers (Moneague College); Aaliyah McLeod (Knox College); Tahira Barrett (Mannings High School); Sherayna Brown (Immaculate Conception High School); Malia Lynch-Marcellin (Wolmer’s High School for Girls); Alannah Daley (St Andrew High for Girls); Bridget Lee (Knox College); and Gabrielle Thompson (G.C. Foster College).

The 16 will be chaperoned by coach, Yolanda Miller, her assistant Keshan Livingston, and team manager, Valencia Cowan.