Are you game?

Chanced upon this report in yesterday's Straits Times. So Vballers, great news and things are moving. are you game to move? LOL

check out the trial dates.

May 5, 2008

VOLLEYBALL
S'pore to field team for YOG

Volleyball body to form national squads with youngsters who will be eligible for 2010 event By Terrence Voon

IT DOES not even have a national team yet.
But the Volleyball Association of Singapore (VAS) has set its sights on an ambitious target: fielding a team for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), a competition for 14- to 18-year-olds.

Indoor volleyball is one of the 26 sports to be featured at the inaugural YOG, which Singapore will host. The association plans to assemble a group of young spikers to challenge the world's best and is inviting 16 secondary schools to send their top players.

There will be open trials for both boys and girls aged 15 or younger on May 18 and 19 at Hougang Sports Hall. 'We have to start somewhere,' said VAS president Baey Yam Keng. 'We hope to leverage on the excitement of the Youth Olympics to spur the kids on.'

The Youth Olympic trials are just the first step in the association's plan to resurrect Singapore's national squads, which were disbanded in 2005 following their dismal showings at regional competitions like the South-east Asia (SEA) Games. Singapore last won a SEA Games volleyball medal in 1993, when the men took the bronze on home soil.

The sport has declined since, though the VAS is keen to reverse the slide with the help of former national players. These veterans are expected to feature during open trials for all ages on May 25. They are likely to form the spine of the new men and women's national squads, which will be dominated by the Youth Olympic hopefuls.

Each team will have between 20 and 28 players. About half will be aged 15 or below.
A coach from Thailand, the region's top volleyball nation, will be brought in to train the squads and head a team of local coaches.

Indoor volleyball's more glamorous cousin, beach volleyball, will also have national sides soon. The VAS plans to hold trials at the Clementi beach volleyball court by the end of next month.
'We won't be taken seriously if we are a sport without a national team,' said Mr Baey, who is also an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC.

'For volleyball to grow here, we need to allocate resources to find good players and train them up.' The news that Singapore is on the hunt for a Youth Olympic volleyball team has got schools buzzing, though some have sounded a note of caution, 'Many of our students are not tall enough to be competitive in this sport,' said one teacher in charge of volleyball.

'We have physical constraints. Still, it will be good exposure for them to play at such a high level.'