Nigel Si­mon

Nico­lette De Mille has been ap­point­ed cap­tain of the T&T team which left yes­ter­day to com­pete at the Caribbean Zon­al Vol­ley­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (Ca­zo­va) Youth Girls (Un­der-18) Cham­pi­onship in Cu­ra­cao.

De Mille is the lone sur­vivor from the Mac­sood Ali-coached team which won a third straight crown two years ago on home soil and will now lead the team in a quest for a fourth straight ti­tle from to­mor­row (Ju­ly 9) un­til Sun­day against Bar­ba­dos, Bonaire and the host coun­try.

The lo­cal squad un­der the guid­ance of Cuban head coach Idalys Gato Maya, a for­mer Olympic gold medal win­ner al­so in­cludes the first ever play­er from To­ba­go, to be se­lect­ed on a na­tion­al youth team in Ani­ka Bus­by.

Bus­by was de­vel­oped by Nolan Daniel and was draft­ed in­to the team by na­tion­al youth team coach Sean Mor­ri­son dur­ing a na­tion­al clin­ic con­duct­ed by for­mer T&T men's coach, Brazil­ian Au­gus­to Saba­ti­ni.

Com­ment­ing on the team's chances of a fourth straight crown as­sis­tant coach and se­nior na­tion­al women's team libero, Court­nee-Mae Clif­ford said the coach­ing staff was very op­ti­mistic.

"We did not start of train­ing pro­gramme un­til March, which was late for us and at the start the turn out to the train­ing ses­sions was a bit up and down due to most of the play­ers hav­ing ex­ams,|" added Clif­ford.

How­ev­er, the as­sis­tant coach not­ed that with ex­am­i­na­tions over, the month of June saw an up swing in the at­ten­dance and the team has im­proved con­sid­er­ably.

She added, Nico­lette is the lone play­er who had the past ex­pe­ri­ence of play­ing na­tion­al team vol­ley­ball, so the oth­er play­ers are all new­com­ers, but they meshed very well and we are all look­ing for­ward to the tour­na­ment."

In 2013, cap­tain Re­ann Young and the tow­er­ing Kay­lon Cruick­shank tal­lied 42 points be­tween them­selves as host T&T bagged a third straight ti­tle beat­ing Bar­ba­dos 25-14, 25-15, 24-26.

Par­tic­i­pat­ing Teams

Bar­ba­dos: Shaman­dra Shilling­ford, Xhane Greenidge, Shanae Boyce, Risa Niles, Re­an­na James, Jazz­i­ca Sealy, Iyana Al­leyne, Dashon­ta Ad­di­son, Ash­ley Jor­dan, Aaliyah Du­rant, Don­nique Al­leyne.

Bonaire: Nian­dra Kock, Raymi­enne Al­ber­tus, Shardae Wed­er­voort, Deyani­ra Verolme, Jean-Mary Emer, Pieter­sz Fa­ti­ma, Ja­hena An­gela, Jen­ny Cas­tro, Saitha Claren­da, Daniela Drullard, Michelle Williams.

Cu­ra­cao: Liz Rossen, Tiffany Rosario, Sug­ee de Palm, Jean­nivi­enne Mar­ti­na, Dan­gela Maduro, Des­tiny Ja­cobs, Naima James, Jew­enge­ly Hart, Tah­nee Ger­ard, Na­tious­ka Geer­man, Sigraina Fe­cun­da, Anais Con­radus, Brigitte Cathali­na, Na­di­ene Burke, Es­se­line Brunk­ard.

T&T: Gabriel­la Su­per­sad, Ca­line Nes­bit, Payquelle Dick­son, Tekeyah Haz­zard, Afiya Alexan­der, Jor­dyn Ali, Journee Cun­ning­ham, Ani­ka Bus­by, Nico­lette De Mille (cap­tain), Tsyan Selvon, Brit­ney Choon, Ne­r­ia Charles.

Tech­ni­cal staff: Idalmis Gato Moya (coach), Court­nee-mae Clif­ford (as­sis­tant coach), Kam­la El­cock (man­ag­er)

Fifth Ca­zo­va Youth Girls Cham­pi­onship:

Tour­na­ment fix­tures

Ju­ly 9: T&T vs Bar­ba­dos, 5.30pm; Cu­ra­cao vs Bonaire, 8pm

Ju­ly 10: Bar­ba­dos vs Bonaire, 9am; Cu­ra­cao vs T&T, 10.30am

Ju­ly 10: T&T vs Bonaire, 6pm; Cu­ra­cao vs Bar­ba­dos, 8pm

Ju­ly 11: Semi­fi­nals: 1st vs 4th, 5pm; 2nd vs 3rd, 7pm

Ju­ly 12: Third place play­off, 4pm; Fi­nal, 6pm

Past win­ners:

Girls:

Venue Year Gold Sil­ver Bronze Fourth

TTO 2007 T&T USVI Bar­ba­dos

USVI 2012 T&T Haiti USVI ...Bar­ba­dos

T&T 2013 T&T Bar­ba­dos Ba­hamas