O'Connell Center To Host 2006 NORCECA Girls Youth Volleyball Championships
Monday, March 27, 2006 | Volleyball
Gainesville will host the 2006 NORCECA Girls Youth Volleyball Championships on July 25-30 as announced by USA Volleyball. The Championships will take place at the O'Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida.
The bi-annual event will qualify teams for the 2007 FIVB Girls Youth World Championships.
"The selection of the O'Connell Center as host venue speaks volumes about the status of volleyball here at Florida," UF head coach Mary Wise said. "With the assistance of Jack Hughes and the Gainesville Sports Organizing Committee, we have a chance to do something never done before in Gainesville: host an international volleyball tournament. We look forward to showing off our first-class facilities to the visiting teams. I'm certain our fans will enjoy watching some of the best young talent in the world."
USA Volleyball officials are hoping that as many as eight teams will participate in the NORCECA Youth Championships. Among the countries expected to send teams, besides the United States, are Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago.
“This is the first time we've hosted this event since 2002 in Salt Lake City,” said Tom Pingel, USA Volleyball's Director of High Performance National Programs. “The University of Florida and the city of Gainesville showed great interest in the event and submitted a very strong bid. We were targeting the southeastern part of the United States to host in order to make travel easier for the Caribbean and Central American countries.”
The U.S. team will be chosen from ongoing tryouts and will begin training in Gainesville on approximately July 9.
More information will be posted to the USA Volleyball web site (http://www.usavolleyball.org) as it becomes available.
