Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Five new members elected to BVI Volleyball Association Executive

Five new members elected to BVI Volleyball Association Executive

Rockel Woods, Kiah Walters, Valissa Brathwaite, Caldon “Reno” Morton and Canis Marquis, were elected as five new Virgin Island Volleyball Association Executive Committee members on Monday night, during the body’s quadrennial elections at the Multipurpose Sports Complex, which also saw Stephen Payne as the new president taking the helm. He was nominated unopposed as well as Vice President, Marquis.
Woods garnered 13 votes to Henrietta Alexander’s 5, for the post of Assistant Secretary. Kisheba Sprauve-Callwood was returned as General Secretary unopposed. Walters amassed 11 votes to Curtis Davis’ 7, to become the Public Relations Officer. Brathwaite tallied 15 votes and Morton 13, for the posts of Player Representatives. Tylia “Tweety” Nibbs received 6 votes and Arianna Forbes, 2. Anabelle Skelton-Malone—the former Assistant Secretary—was unopposed as Treasurer. Maria Drigo retained her post as Assistant Treasurer.

“My vision is to put volleyball back where it was when I came here,” Payne told Island Sun Sports. “Volleyball was a vibrant sport. There was youth involvement in it from the schools and that’s where I want to see it go. The motto for volleyball is keep the ball flying. We want the ball to be flying in the near future.”

In order for youth development to take place, Payne said coaches need to be developed and given the knowledge and transfer it through the schools. While there are PE Teachers with certain core knowledge, youth development goes beyond knowing the basics.

“It’s a whole program that you have to incorporate, after school programs, making sure volleyball is played on a consistent basis,” he pointed out. “Youth development is something that caters to senior development. If you don’t have a youth segment, there’s no future for the sport. I’ve realized we don’t have a senior national team because we don’t have any youth programs to develop the senior national team. We must invest first and foremost and that’s one of the things I’ll be trying to implement, to ensure we get the requisite training for coaches, the officiating side of things. Even if we have to bring in persons to work along with the association, to make sure focus can be given to youth development.”

Payne said there are naturally gifted persons within the schools. They might have the height or be able to jump. However, he said the game must be introduced in the Primary Schools.

“Introducing certain skills in the game—it might not be volleyball per say—but it might be motor skills, skills that are necessary for the development of the sport,” he said. “Lateral movement, jumping, all of those kinds of things, then bringing them up introducing balls at tennis net height level, make the game interesting. And if you can develop a love for the game, then you’ll stick with it.”

Payne, who’s almost 60, began playing volleyball with a ball made from goat skin in primary school in Barbados at 11 and said his love for the sport hasn’t waned because of his early exposure. He envisages the same here, once youngsters are exposed early.

“In order for you to get that kind of advancement, you must have persons in the trenches to coach; you must have the support of the government; you must have the support of the schools,” he explained. “From primary school, we need to do a better job with the PE Teachers working alongside of the Volleyball Association and sport disciplined coaches, for instance Volleyball coaches will go in a work alongside the normal PE Teachers, develop a curriculum, develop a program and we can make it happen.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×