Volleyball: Praslin secondary dominant in school championship |12 November 2014

Schools from Mahé can take a lesson from Praslin as the latter dominated the recent inter-school volleyball championship finals held last weekend at the Palais des Sports.

Teams from Mahé competed during the year in order to get to the finals where they were to meet either Praslin or La Digue as these two teams competed against each other for a spot in the finals.

The girls’ under-15 final pitted Praslin against Anse Boileau. The team from Praslin quickly asserted their dominance as they easily won the first set on a 25-10 score. Anse Boileau tried to give their opponents more resistance in the second set, but it was to little effect as Praslin again won the set 25-18 as the finals were being played on a three-set basis.  Praslin were victorious on a 2-0 scoreline after 27 minutes of play.

For the under-15 boys’ category, Praslin were again in the final where they met the boys from Pointe Larue school. The match took 37 minutes to finish as Praslin claimed another easy 2-0 (25-11, 25-13) win to finish as champions.

Praslin teams featured in the two under-18 finals.

In the boys’ category the English River school team were the ones tasked with defeating Praslin. It proved to be a tougher test as the match was close despite the Praslinois getting another 2-0 victory after 37 minutes on the court. The set scores were 25-18 and 25-20.

In the girls’ final, it was again a tough encounter as Praslin met Pointe Larue. The first set was a very close affair as the score ended 25-22 in Praslin’s favour. In the second set, it was again close were Pointe Larue were aiming to send the game into a third set, while Praslin were hoping to kill it off. In the end, it was Praslin who won it 2-0 (25-22, 25-22) after 47 minutes.

Praslin coach Sony Athanase said he believes the amount of training he has put his players through was the main reason they won the finals.

“I start working with these players as soon as they join the secondary school. From there I get myself a large pool of players, whom I work with and develop their talents,” he added.

He added that the fact that he works with teams playing in the national leagues, he has been able to get some of the young players into those teams where they are able to play competitively throughout the year.
 
This then must be a lesson for teams from Mahé who must now seek to improve their level to dethrone Praslin next year.

S. N.