Amakali encourages early start to volleyball

Namibian volleyball clubs found the going tough at the recent Zone Six Volleyball Club Championships held in Swaziland. The Sports Klub Windhoek (SKW) women’s volleyball team and the Khomas NamPol Volleyball Club (KNVC) men’s team represented the country at the club championships. The two teams won the Namibia Volleyball Federation (NVF) championship hosted in Windhoek in October. Speaking to Nampa on Tuesday, the chairperson of the central volleyball league and a player for KNVC, Joseph Amakali, said the teams that represented the country this year improved their play despite being eliminated in the group stages. “Our game has improved from the previous competitions that we participated in. This year the men’s team managed to win sets from the games that we played, unlike in the past. “I can only say that we are learning from the other teams that we played against. If you look at the teams that came from Zimbabwe, they have players that play volleyball at professional level and we are not yet there,” he said. Amakali added that for the game of volleyball to be competitive, a lot needs to be done at grassroots level. He said the senior league might be stronger if they had stronger feeder teams at club level. “At the moment, credit should be given to the Namibia Volleyball Federation for the job they did this year of taking the game to the people but a lot still needs to be done if we are to compete at the same level as other countries. “I believe by next year they will start with volleyball games at primary school level and it will require all of us as a nation to support such initiative for the betterment of the game,” said Amakali. He said the five Namibian volleyball associations - the Central, Zambezi, Kavango, Erongo, and Far Northern volleyball associations - will start selecting the best players in their leagues to compete with each other in 2016, which will ease the job of the national selectors when selecting the best players for the national team. -Nampa HESRON KAPANGA