Growth for mid central women's volleyball team

Exposure at national tournaments was the main priority for the Mid-Central women’s team three volleyball squad.

Head coach Josh Tulele was impressed with his team execution of the basic work and rotation on court.

“I’m impressed with their performance given that most of them participated in their first tournament,”he said.

“I told them to go out there and enjoy themselves.”.

Tulele will be working on the team’s combinations as they prepare for the Vanua Championships later this month.

 “We have a lot of school students and working team players so there’s hardly time for us to meet together and train as a unit,” he said.

“Finance has always been a challenge especially bringing in three teams in this tournament.” Tulele added that Mid-Central and Nasinu are the only associations with three teams.

 “Finance is always a challenge to feed them, transport them and even before the tournament, training indoors is not cheap,” he said.

 “Training late at night, we have to prepare the bus and all those things.” Tulele said there was a need to get donors involved in sponsoring volleyball teams.

“Even though it’s a minor sport, it’s a sport that is widely played in Fiji,” he said.

 “You’ll go to villages that don’t have a big ground, the only thing they can resort to is a volleyball court. All you need is a net.”

Tulele indicated that volleyball is an inclusive sport that allow people of different gender and age to compete.

“In rugby, you cannot have a female competing with a male,” he said.

“While it’s still a minor sport, it’s a widely played sport in Fiji.” Tulele said their association encourages female participation in the sport.

 “We also work with FWCC (Fiji Women Crisis Centre) for women empowerment and having a balanced team in our association,” he said.

“It’s good to see kids play, especially women because they are usually neglected in most of the sporting environment that we’re playing.”

Tulele acknowledged the other volleyball association for providing good competition within the two-day tournament.