Press release

Doha, Qatar, October 7, 2011 – Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver Devin Plett is the youngest men’s team competing in the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship.

Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver gets an early wake up call Saturday morning as it starts the competition against Zenit Kazan, a team with four players having Olympic Games experience. The 10 a.m. local time match kick starts the dual-gender FIVB Club World Championships being staged in Qatar through Oct. 14. Trinity Western, a Canadian team comprised of collegiate players, averages 20.8 in age with the youngest player in the competition in Devin Plett, who was born November 7, 1992.

Meanwhile, Zenit Kazan averages 28.2 years old, including 35-year-old Valerio Vermiglio who has a tournament-best 294 national team selections and two Olympic Games appearances with Italy. Zenit Kazan’s Reid Priddy, who just turned 34, has 214 national team selections for United States. Maxim Mikhaylov and Yury Berzhko have participated in one Olympics for Russia.

For additional information on the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, click here. For more informaton on the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, click here. For Daily Bulletins for the tournament, click here.

“We are excited to be here among these great club teams,” Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver coach Ben Josephson said. “Over half our roster has been to a World Championship of one sort or another at the youth or junior level, or while playing beach volleyball. We have lots of international experience for team made up with a lot of 20-year-old players. And tomorrow we get to open up the competition against a very experienced Zenit Kazan. It will be a fun experience for our players to line up and play against them.”

Martinez, at just over 15 years old, helped Dominican Republic to a fifth-place finish at the FIVB Volleyball Women's Junior World Championship 2011 Peru. She is now competing for Mirador Santo Domingo in a club competition. Her squad leads of the FIVB Women's Club World Championship competition on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul, which won the 2010-2011 CEV Champions League.

The competition switches back to the men’s field for the two late matches on the opening day with with KS Jastryebski taking on Paykan Tehran at 5 p.m. and Al-Ahly Cairo challenging local Doha club Al-Arabi at 7 p.m.

FIVB Men’s Club World Championship
Youngest Player: Devin Plett (Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver), 18.9 years old (07/11/1992)
Youngest Team: Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver, average 20.8 years old
Oldest Player: Saeed Al-Jamaani (Al-Arabi Doha), 38.7 years old (11/01/1973)
Oldest Team: Sesi Sao Paulo, average 29.3 years old
Birthdays During Tournament: Tije Vlam (Al-Arabi Doha) on October 9; Abadllah Abdalsalan Bekhit (Al-Ahly Cairo) on October 10; Mohammad Taher Vadi (Paykan Tehran) on October 10
Team with Most Foreign Transfers: 6, Al-Arabi Doha; KS Jastryebski Wegiel
Team with Fewest Foreign Transfers: 0, Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver; Sesi Sao Paulo
Individual with Most National Selections: 294, Valerio Vermiglio (Zenit Kazan) with Italy