Volleyball officials impresses with talents discovered in NAYCONF
By Sulayman Waan
Top officials of The Gambia Volleyball Federation have expressed delight with talent they are discovering in the ongoing National Youth Conference and Festival (NAYCONF) in Banjul.
All the 7 regions have volleyball players participating in the weeklong tournament. Many players showed class with great performance and the youthful exuberance was incredible.
Coach Pa Baboucarr Barrow, National Volleyball Team Head Coach expressed his impression with the talents he saw during the competition.
“This is a NAYCONF with a difference; it is a platform where a lot of youngsters, upcoming players and talents are discovered. Nonetheless we have great talents if we invest in them, The Gambia will have a lot of awards in the future,” Barrow said.
Barrow, who guided The Gambia volleyball team to the Commonwealth Games earlier this year’s is confident that NAYCONF will help him and other coaches to have good volleyball players who can become national assets in future.
“If you look at the teams from North Bank and Central River Region they have amazing talents and can be scouted and play in clubs and even at national level,” he said.
Coach Barrow urged Government to build more infrastructures in the country to help the growth of the pool of talents in the country. He said this will help the country a great deal especially in indoor sports.
“We really need an indoor court so that our players can get used to playing in such condition, if not, it will really affect our performance. Our players have to be exposed to such facilities to boost their performance at international level. Our players usually go for international competition but they do struggle to adapt to the sound of an indoor court. An indoor court will be a great advantage for the country,” Barrow also said.
Alagie Ceesay, Technical Director of The Gambia Volleyball Federation said he was amazed with the pool of talents he saw.
‘This will add value to the development of volleyball in the country because we have seen coaches in the league taking notes and scouting talents,” he said.
He added that NAYCONF has revitalized volleyball in Banjul. “Manneh Sillah Volleyball Court has not been functional for a while but organizers of NAYCONF revitalized it and that is good for the development of volleyball in Banjul.”
The Volleyball Federation officials also highlighted the need for the construction of an indoor court in The Gambia to boost the chance of Gambian players at the international level.
SW/COB/22/12/22
