By JONATHAN RAMNANANSINGH Friday, July 20 2012

NATIONAL volleyball player, Marc Anthony Honore admits that the level of volleyball locally must be significantly improved if Trinidad and Tobago are to make a permanent and lasting impression on the international competitive circuit.

Speaking after TT’s eighth place performance at the seventh Pan American Cup in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the middle-blocker was hopeful that coaches and officials took detailed notes into some of the necessary requirements that would help project the sport forward in a positive light. “Finishing in last place at that level just confirms that our team has a lot of room for technical development. We need to have better, more regular training sessions to raise the level of our players,” he explained.

Even though Honore is currently a foreign-based player in Portugal, he felt that once these specific criteria were properly implemented, TT would have a lot more to offer on the global stage. TT’s only professional volleyball player was a bit disheartened that the national team still had to go scouting for younger talents to represent the senior squad.

“That (overall improvements) will help secure professional contracts (for local players) which will in turn make Trinidad and Tobago volleyball more competitive at that (Olympic qualifier) level. We are the only team that cannot create a full starting line-up consisting of professional players,” he continued.

Referring to their 27-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-13 loss against word 18th ranked Argentina at the Pan Am Cup, Honore blamed the lack of compact and detailed training sessions locally. He admitted that we as a nation do have a lot of potential, but were lacking critical and all-round forms of athletic development.

The Benfica player added, “The other teams simply played better volleyball than we did. We match up well athletically with many of the other teams but the level and volume of training received is much lower. We were unable to perform at a high level consistently.”

After the tournament, the Naparima College graduate copped the award for “Best Blocker”. He was the only local player to receive an award throughout this competition and was pleased to still be a force to be reckoned with. However, he brushed off this achievement and hoped for a better overall performance by him and his team members at the next competition.