Preparing for the World Championship of Volleyball this September in Italy, the US National Volleyball team will try to three-peat their crown at the Norceca Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup. From May 24-29th, the top teams from North and South America will battle for the Volleyball Pan-Am Cup in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Unstoppable US
Clay Kaboom
The US National Volleyball team is one of the most dominating sport teams in the World. They have 3 Gold Medals in the past 7 Summer Olympic Games including the Gold Medal at the last Olympics in Beijing, China. Clay Stanley, the top scorer at the Olympics in Beijing, will be playing at this year’s Pan American Cup. The American success at the Pan-Am Cup has been outstanding winning 3 out of the last 4 cups and if they win this year it will be 3 in a row!
Brazilian Bombers
Brazilian Boom
Brazil is currently ranked #1 in the World for volleyball and they will be looking to stop win their first Pan-Am medal. Volleyball is the second most popular sport in Brazil next to Soccer. On the beaches of Brazil they even play a mixture of Soccer and Volleyball called Footvolley, where you can only use your feet and head to play volleyball. It could be a great training technique that other countries could practice to improve their team play.
Pan-Am Pools
Hands Up
The Pan-Am Cup will have three pools of three teams each and their will be a round robin, followed by elimination rounds. Here are the pools:
- Pool A: Canada, Brazil, Columbia
- Pool B: USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico
- Pool C: Argentina, Dominican Republic, Venezuela
It’s hard to follow this tournament on television, but if you manage to find out who wins, let us know what you thought in the comments below!
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