THE Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA), despite being short on financial support, is targeting primary and high schools in a bid to attract young talent and to lay a solid platform for the growth of the sport islandwide.

According to representatives of the local body, the introduction of beach volleyball could be the catalyst needed to trigger interest.

“We want to start the beach volleyball programme in the summer because we want kids to focus on education as well,” said local volleyball president, Steve Brown, while speaking at a recent Jamaica Observer Sports Club forum at the company’s Beechwood Avenue base.

Beach volleyball already has a young star pair in Rojey Hutchinson and Shavar Bryan, qualifiers for the Beach Volleyball World Cup.

Beach volleyball is relatively economical as a team consists of only two players compared to court volleyball where a team has seven or more players.

With only a relatively small number of schools taking part in volleyball at present, the association is seeking to build on that figure to draw closer to the level of participation seen in the more prominent sports in Jamaica.

“In the primary schools we have identified a few talent and what was refreshing, we saw that volleyball coaches in high schools have made improvements, so we ask the parents to send these kids to schools that have good programmes in order to develop their talent.

“We are starting to work with them and find the young talent in the primary schools and getting them into high school programmes,” Brown said.

The lawman went on to explain how assistance was provided for some schools.

“We had some schools from St Andrew who called the association asking if we could provide them with some ball and nets, because what happens is that youngsters who played volleyball in the primary schools went to high school and they pressured the Physical Education teachers and principals to get involved in the programme,” he said.

“So they called us and we took it from there and decided to get programmes into the primary and high schools,” he continued.

Captain of the national men’s team Dellan Brown, who was also present at the forum, outlined that he has seen some changes since the implementation of the schools programme.

“JaVA, through the primary school system, has changed the cycle, so rather than having a few schools we have more schools pushing to be a part of the programme, as coaches are seeking continuity for their players in all aspects of the game, including beach volleyball,” Brown said.