Secondary Schools' volleyball league postponed

The Secondary Schools’ Volleyball League (SSVL) has been postponed after two incomplete days of play.

The league served off at the National Cycling Velodrome in Balmain, Couva on Tuesday but all scheduled matches were unable to be completed by the 4pm deadline “due to unforeseen delays on three courts,” a source who wished to remain anonymous said.

On Wednesday, SSVL executives and teachers redid the markings on two additional courts to facilitate the boys’open.

All the boys’ open games were completed but there were still four outstanding games for the girls open at the close of play. This was owing to the large number of teams in this division.

Before leaving the venue on Wednesday, a meeting was held with the two SSVL executives and teacher representatives for the schools present. A decision was made that the outstanding games from Tuesday and Wednesday would be tallied to determine if all the outstanding games, as well as the games scheduled for Thursday, would be able to be played on the four available courts.

After these discussions, “and taking into consideration all the issues brought up by various schools, it was decided that all games would be postponed, in the best interest of all,” the source added.

Some of the issues highlighted were potential clashes with exams and the lenght of time students were out of class.

Additionally, it was also said that some volleyballers were part of other school and after-school sporting programmes such as badminton and track and field, and would be unavailable to compete on all scheduled match days.

Some also would be involved in the 2023 Steelband Panorama (medium and large conventional bands) finals.

The source added, “All parties involved are expected to meet in March to set a new tentative date which would have to be forwarded to the CEO of the Ministry of Education for approvals.

“Issues expected from this would be the length of time approvals take and some of the students not being available, especially in the open category, due to them not being in school in their preparation for CSEC and CAPE exams.”