THE Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) in keeping with its Volleyball Cooperation Programme is in the process of hosting a teacher’s training course in collaboration with the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVBF) and the Ministry of Education’s Allied Arts Unit.

The course is aimed at training Physical Education (PE) teachers in administering instruction in volleyball at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level.

According to Nicholas Fraser a Physical Education Officer within the Ministry of Education’s Allied Arts Unit, the CSEC PE syllabus offers 17 sporting disciplines, volleyball included, and three of these are compulsory to students sitting the examination. This is the second such effort made to bolster the CSEC PE programme as a Table Tennis training course was also conducted over the summer holiday. It was also disclosed that the participants will receive accreditation from the Federation of International Volleyball on completing the course.

The 5-day course is being conducted by Dr. Eduardo Bellman, an international instructor from the FIVB, who says that the FIVB’s Volleyball Cooperation Programme is for countries that need development in the sport. Dr. Bellman said that the joint effort of the FIVB, GVBF and Ministry of Education will teach the participants about the fundamentals of volleyball so that they can in turn spread the awareness in schools.

Dr. Bellman’s lectures will focus on the organisational structure of the international body, techniques and tactics and how to develop and motivate players in schools. President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation Lennox Shuffler said that the course was initiated because it was of the opinion that it would be more appropriate to get the programme into schools as it will be mutually beneficial.

He said that PE and by extension volleyball is a part of the CSEC syllabus, on the other hand, he said that this school programme will feed players for the Inter-Guiana Games and Guyana’s professional volleyball pool as well.

Shuffler also disclosed that this initiative coincides with the GVBF’s phase development programme which aims at spreading the sport countrywide. Out of the 30 schools invited 20 showed up for yesterday’s first lecture, the course concludes on Saturday.