The Nigerian national U-21 male volleyball team will Friday night depart Nigeria for the African U-21 Volleyball Championship billed Tunis, Tunisia.
The team of 12 players and two coaches are heading to Tunisia with the aim of winning one of the tickets to the World U-21 Volleyball Championship, as they spike against hosts Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Cameroon.
The team, ahead of their departure from Kaduna on Friday, appreciated the immense financial, physical and moral support of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engr. Musa Nimrod to the team and to the game of volleyball in the country by presenting him with a large portrait.
Speaking ahead of the team’s departure, Engr. Nimrod said majority of the team graduated from the African U-19 champions to the U-21 team, adding, “they are men now going for the U-21 championship, a team of 12 players, two coaches and one referee. Our target is to win ticket to World U-21 Volleyball Championship. Though they were African U-19 champions, they should take note that this is U-21 and there are strong teams from North Africa such as Tunisia and Egypt, who would be waiting for Nigeria. They would be playing clips of the U-19 Nigeria team to see how they played and how to counter them.
“From our performances in recent years, the eyes of FIVB (Federation of International Volleyball) are on us. Tactical coaches would be arriving Nigeria on Monday approved by FIVB and by September, FIVB technical coaches would be in Nigeria for a coaching course because of the volleyball development programmes which have come to the notice of FIVB.”
Head coach of the Nigerian U-19 volleyball national team, Sani Mohammed Musa said the team was prepared to meet the target set for them.
“The team is prepared from U-19 team to U-21, they played in African championship, they played in the world championship twice. The board has done it’s best, it is left for us the coaches and players to go and do our best. We have knowledge of our opponents that would want to be stumbling block,” he said.
Also speaking team captain, Abari Michael said after long preparation they were ready to take on their counterparts from across the continent.
“We are African U-19 champions, so we know how it is to play our opponents. The president of NVBF, Engr. Musa Nimrod is our father. He gave us career, supported us, stood by us that is why we decided to show our appreciation to him,” he said.
