JAMAICA’S U-19 boys beach volleyball team of Rojey Hutchinson and Shavar Bryan have set tongues wagging in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as they put in an impressive performance against a highly rated pair of Brazilian beach volleyballers.

Playing against one of Brazil’s highly rated junior beach volleyball players and his partner, Hutchinson and Bryan showed no sign of intimidation, pressing their opponents all the way in the first set.

The Brazilians needed a couple extra rallies to eventually take the set 23-21. The loss of the first set did not take any wind out of the sail of the Jamaicans, who even led the second set at various points, but the Brazilians took it by the narrowest of margins, 21-19.

The performance of the Jamaican boys came as a surprise to many in Brazil but not former Olympic Beach Volleyball champion, Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Cruz Silva, who had visited Jamaica to offer technical assistance to both the boys’ and girls’ teams as they prepare to compete in the World U-19 Beach Volleyball Championship in Portugal from July 11-14.

“I am very impressed with the performance of the boys in particular. I saw them in Jamaica and I knew right away that if they were provided with the right opportunities to get international competitive exposure they would be very good.

“They may not medal in Portugal, but I think they can improve fast enough to be on the podium at the Youth Olympic Games in China in 2014. They are worthy of investment,” she said.

While not as impressive in their score-lines, the girls’ team of Tionna Graham and Lisanne Roofe have been sponging up the wealth of knowledge coming at them.

“The girls are really trying hard to grasp everything and the improvements they have made since coming to Brazil less than a week now is vast,” stated O’Neil Ebanks, who has accompanied the teams as coach and head of delegation.

President of the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA), Major Warrenton Dixon, expressed delight at the news coming out of Brazil.

“It may sound strange but once we had confirmed that the teams would have been going to Brazil, I switched my main effort from Portugal to Brazil,” he said.

“Portugal is an immeasurably great opportunity for the children and Jamaica on a whole, and it is likely that the players will learn something from the experience. On the other hand, the trip to Brazil is solely about their technical and tactical education in the sport, knowledge that will help them in Portugal but will, more importantly, transcend Portugal into future competitions,” noted Dixon.

The contingent left the island on June 29 and are due to return today, before departing for Portugal shortly afterwards.