Belize U-19 Boys Volleyball Team travels to Guatemala on Saturday for NORCECA Championship

Photo Credit: Afecavol

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: The Belize U-19 Boys Volleyball Team will be travelling on Saturday, March 11, to Guatemala City to compete for the first time in the NORCECA Championship.

At the regional North American, Central American, and Caribbean Championship (NORCECA is to volleyball what Concacaf is to football), Belize will face the United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica in Group A.

The regional championship gets underway on Monday, March 13, and runs until Saturday, March 18.

The  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=586118243545835&set=pb.100064429944175.-2207520000. Preston Smith, Francis Thomas, David Garbutt, Eleazar Mejia, Nicanor Requena, Lawrence Mahler, Brayden Richardson, Michael Barber, Daunte Gill, Daniel Musa, Zepheniah Chaplin, and Kyron Sutherland. Seven players from the team that won third place in the Central American were recalled, namely Mahler, Richardson, Mejia, Gill, Chaplin, Requena, and Smith. The head coach is still Albert Humes. His team includes assistant coaches Wallace Tillett, Elton Anderson, and Bryton Codd.

Belize’s opening game will be against the NORCECA subchampions United States team on Monday at 2:00 pm.

Next, Belize will take on Central American Champions Costa Rica on Tuesday at 4:00 pm. Belize finished third in the last U-19 Central American championship held in Honduras last September behind Costa Rica and Guatemala and ahead of Nicaragua.

Belize then measures up against Northern neighbours Mexico on Wednesday at 4:00 pm in the last group game.

Group B consists of Central American subchampions Guatemala, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Suriname.

At a press conference on Thursday in Guatemala City, NORCECA announced that the top two teams will qualify to the 2025 FIVB Boys U19 World Championship. Cuba won the last edition over the United States in 2018 in San José, Costa Rica. Puerto Rico beat Guatemala in the third-place game.

After the first-round pool-play, the group winners advance directly into the semifinals, while second and third places will play in the quarterfinal round of the event. The medal matches will be played on Saturday 18.

The competition and training venues will be inspected on Saturday, March 11 when NORCECA will also hold a joint meeting of the NORCECA control committee and the organizing committee. The teams’ preliminary inquiry will be held on Sunday, March 12.

NORCECA said matches will be streamed on Facebook Live Fnvg Voleibol Guate.