The pairings of Daniel Williams and Marlon Phillip, along with Christian Francois and Josiah Eccles, will headline this country’s title challenge when the 11th and final leg of the NORCECA Continental Beach Volleyball Circuit serves off from today in Tobago from 9 am.
The double-gender event, hosted by the T&T Volleyball Federation (TTVF), will feature more than 15 men and women teams each until Sunday at the Courland Heritage Park, Turtle Beach.
This will be the sixth time the local volleyball federation is hosting a stop on the annual tour and the fourth straight occasion the final leg is being staged in T&T, with Tobago also being the final stop for the past two years as well.
Nine years ago, the NORCECA event was held in Saith Park in Chaguanas and after a short hiatus it returned to Mission Beach, Toco in 2012.
Last year, Williams and Whitfield, who were coming off back-to-back bronze medal finishes in the fifth and sixth legs in Florida, USA and St Lucia, finished seventh while Simon Blake and Colin Bernard, as well as Kersen Trim and Kevin James finished lower down the field.
This year, Williams will have national youth indoor captain, Phillip as his partner for the second time on the tour while Francois and Eccles, who were part of the T&T team for the Olympic Beach qualifiers last year, will link up for the first time. Two other men’s pairings from Tobago will don T&T colours in the men’s tournament while La Teisha Joseph and Malika Davidson is the lone T&T rep in the women’s competition.