Wilson lands contract with Israeli team

National representative Dany Wilson became the second Jamaican to land an overseas volleyball contract in less than a year when his local club, Vikings, agreed to terms with Israel club Hapoel Kfar Saba, last Friday.

Wilson was voted Best Server at the 2008 Caribbean Volleyball Championships (CVC) and was recently involved in beach volleyball Olympic qualification.

In agreeing to a contract, he joined national women's team captain, Lecia Brown, who has been plying her trade in Poland with PTPS Pila since September.

"The exposure of our club and national players to higher level competitive environments are important building blocks in our drive to transform volleyball into a major sport locally," said Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA) president, Warrenton Dixon, who played a major role in the negotiations.

"He first went to Israel on a trial and they liked what they saw and subsequently offered him a contract which was tied up last week.

"These occurrences set the stage for other contracts to be signed, in a similar way to how outstanding performances by our students who receive scholarships set the stage for others to benefit likewise," he added.

Meanwhile, according to JaVA, negotiations for contracting a third player to a club in Greece was also initiated in September, but the deal fell through. However, they are in the process of looking around to see if more opportunities exist.

- Jermaine Lannaman