By Shammi Kowlessar
Trinidad and Tobago will be represented by two pairs when the 2011 NORCECA (North, Central America and the Caribbean) Beach Volleyball Circuit serves off in the Cayman Islands today.
Daneil Williams, Fabian Whitfield, Elki Philip and Ayanna Dyette have been at the Seven Miles Beach in Grand Cayman since Wednesday for the three-day tournament.
All four T&T players participated in at least two legs of last year's circuit, but this will be the first time the women will be competing in tandem.
Philip recruited Pauline Woodroffe because of the injury to No 1 player Nancy Joseph last year, and Dyette has been without a regular partner since Nadiege Honore decided to take a break from the game late last year.
Dyette, in fact, combined with Joseph to defeat Woodroffe and Philip in the play-off for this weekend's tournament, but physiotherapist Anil Goopeesingh did not give the 2009 Sportswoman of the Year nominee the thumbs-up to make her return.
Dyette, who had teamed with the country's No 1 indoor player, Kelly Billingy, in December, when T&T advanced to the second and final phase of NORCECA qualifying for next year's Olympic Games in London, England, then picked Philip as her partner.
Williams and Whitfield have been competing together for quite a while, and the men from Toco are clearly ranked No 1 in the country. They were also part of the quartet which remained in contention three months ago for a place in the next Olympics.
This year's NORCECA circuit will be the biggest ever as there will be 14 legs, with action continuing until early November.
Players from 16 countries—Barbados, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, St Kitts/Nevis, T&T, United States, US Virgin Islands (USVI) and Cayman Islands—will be doing battle this weekend.
While competing in a play-off last April to earn a place in one of the tournaments in last year's circuit, Joseph tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee and had surgery two months later.
The six-time national champ recently resumed light training, and it was an achievement in itself that she was able to win the play-off when she should not have been competing in the first place.
Goopeesingh feels Joseph is still about two months away from making a complete recovery, and she may not be seen on the NORCECA circuit until the sixth leg in Puerto Rico in July.
Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo suffered a similar injury recently and was forced out of the Cricket World Cup, now in the quarter-final stage in Asia.