With abundant sun, sea and sand, Cayman is the ideal venue for beach volleyball. A visit to Seven Mile Public Beach on a Sunday is ample proof as the regular recreational league takes to the beach.
 
From 19 to 21 March, Cayman will play host to top international players during the NORCECA volleyball tournament. There will be more than fame and prize money on offer, as teams can also score points toward qualification for the next Olympic Games.
 
The tournament is sponsored by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, the Ministry of Health, Environment, Sports and Culture, First Caribbean International Bank and the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee. It is also supported by cayCompass.com, Z99.9 and MC².
 
Last year, the tournament featured 10 countries, with organisers expecting quite a few more this time around. Some of the countries present were the USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago and of course Cayman.
 
Cayman will also be well represented, with up to two teams in the male and female divisions.
It’s one of the reasons that the Caymanian Compass, sister publication to What’s Hot has decided to come on board as a sponsor, said Editor Tammie C. Chisholm.

Unique venue
What makes Cayman unique among the many stops on the international tour is the location of the courts.
“If you go on the world tour, even on the US domestic tour, a lot of the stops will be landlocked, so they will bring sand into a parking lot,” says Carl Brenton, president of the Cayman Islands Volleyball Association.
 
“Even the ones where they are on the beach, they’re not 10 feet from the water like here. This is unbelievable and the fact that we can go straight into the water is nice. Even in Brazil the water is not as nice as here, so this is a big bonus for us,” he says.

Local knowledge
As in any sport, local knowledge helps.
 
“We are very used to where the wind is coming from. We’re used to how deep our sand is. A lot of the teams will play in much shallower sand so they can jump much higher out of that shallower sand. Ours is deep so it’s hard to jump high, but our teams are used it so they train in that, they get strong in there and they’re already jumping high out of that sand,” says Carl.

International response
According to Michelle Carter of the organising committee, the response to last year’s tournament was very positive.
 
“Everyone was extremely impressed and didn’t expect the high level of volleyball played. There is lots of hype about this year’s tournament and it is definitely going to be bigger and better,”
says Michelle.

Building tourism
The organisation also views the NORCECA tournament as the start of bigger things.
 
“This is the start to building sports tourism, one tournament at a time. The Volleyball Association is working to having more tournaments like this one come to the Island. With any big sporting event – they get better every year and they eventually bring bigger names to the tournament,” says Michelle.   WH

For those interested in becoming involved with the tournament, the organisers are still in need of more volunteers – anyone interested in volunteering can contact caymanbeachvolleyball@gmail.com.