– upcoming National U-16 tourney put on hold

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF), Levi Nedd, said he has stopped all upcoming plans following the Covid-19 outbreak which has made its way to South America, adding that athletes locally should follow safety tips.

With a number of new cases now popping up around the Caribbean and Guyana, while at a minimal, containable stage continues to prepare for what seems like a likely spread; Nedd said the GVF have followed other local sport bodies who have decided to halt all activities.

The GVF boss told Chronicle Sport on Monday that the spike by a handful of cases with a single death recorded locally to date, has abruptly forced sport associations, schools, places of business, albeit Government or private sector entities, to practise the global trend of “Self-isolation” and volleyball is no different.

“We have decided to stop all group participation, players were encouraged to stay home during this period and self-isolate themselves. We also spoke on the importance of refraining from the gym because the outbreak is serious”, explained Nedd.

The team recently returned from French Guiana where they had a good outing in the 2020 Inter-Guiana Games (IGG), returning home prior to the outbreak being deemed a pandemic.

Nedd, who also wears the cap of the senior National headcoach, a role he had been fulfilling for a number of years now, further pointed out that he had been in contact with some overseas counterparts who have also lent crucial advice for the athletes.

Due to the current state of things, Nedd further confirmed that the upcoming national Under-16 tournament will now be put on indefinite hold. He added that he believes that players can now use this time to self-train, heal and recover while doing things outside of volleyball.

“We will be putting the U-16 tournament on hold for now; like I said, we don’t want any form of group participation or group training and we have advised our players and all athletes locally to upkeep their personal fitness and training while they can”. He ended.