NCAA sensation prepares to don Jamaica’s colours
JAMION HARTLEY, who has been playing impressively in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) volleyball championship, has been recruited by the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA) to train with the national senior men’s team, which is preparing for the Caribbean championships.
A Jamaican by birth, he has been living in Chicago, Illinois, since moving there with his family when he was seven years old.
Hartley was recently recruited to play professionally for VCA Amstetten Jamion Hartley ... Volleyball Club in invited to national Austria. team.
JaVA had extended its invitation to the 23-year-old Hartley on Sunday.
According to a release, he was persuaded to play volleyball while in eighth grade at high school, at which point his raw talent and skill exploded.
He was voted Most Valuable Player in his senior year.
He spent the last four years dominating the collegiate circuit and honing his skills while attending Ball State University (BSU) – one of the top-ranked colleges in volleyball in the NCAA.
The six-foot-seven, left-handed outside hitter made 30 kills in his 10th match under the BSU banner, which still holds the number two spot for most kills in a match.
BASKETBALL ASPIRATIONS
Recently, Hartley said until his highschool volleyball coach convinced him to give the sport a try, he was determined to become a professional basketball player.
“I was one of those kids that practised in the snow. I really wanted to make it, but I think it burned me out at an early age,” he said.
At the end of the professional circuit in May, Hartley, who lived at Brotherton Avenue in Kingston, will be uniting with his countrymen as they try to best their Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) counterparts to take top honours at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships in Trinidad in July.