Island Vibes Summer Camp and In the Zone Athletic Club, Inc. teamed up to bring two highly decorated international icons to St Thomas to hold a volleyball clinic at Antilles School this past week.
Camp Director Vernon Araujo of Island Vibes Summer Camp, met Gylton Da Matta when he was selected by the United States Virgin Islands Olympic Committee to attend the International Olympic Academy in Greece where Da Matta was a lecturer. After the class, Araujo approached Da Matta about holding clinics here in the Virgin Islands, to which the volleyball instructor happily agreed.
This initial meeting was in 2012. It wasn’t until 2016 that Da Matta came to the Virgin Islands and conducted two training sessions, one in each district. Araujo was able to bring the volleyball specialist back to America’s paradise in 2017 and 2018. This visit is the first time in six years that Da Matta has been able to return to the Virgin Islands to conduct this clinic.
“We are honored to be here for the sixth time. This is our sixth camp here. Most importantly because there is a huge potential in the kids here.” said Da Matta in an interview. “Not only in the passion of volleyball but also big potential in athletics overall. I think this is a very untapped market. We believe in the potential of the children of the Virgin Islands.”
Da Matta is an international volleyball consultant who has trained top athletes in the sport of volleyball all over the world. Presently he resides in Colorado where he has a thriving volleyball program called, International Youth Olympic Sport Academy, YOSA. Da Matta is a certified International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) level 4 coach who has written many technical instructional volleyball manuals and has been heavily involved in the creation of other volleyball instructional platforms like SportsEdtv.com.
One of the coaches Da Matta brought with him was Renan Dal Zotto. Dal Zotto won a gold medal playing for Brazil at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. He has also won numerous international FIVB indoor and beach events over his playing career. His transition to coaching was equally successful as he was at the helm of Brazil’s national men’s team and coached in the professional volleyball league in Italy for many years.
“I think this camp was excellent,” said Araujo. “This was the most kids we ever had. We had representation from all three islands. We had one student who came down from the States, even though she was born here. We want to create opportunities for people who are from here and are living abroad, to come home and have meaningful camps that they can attend.”
Da Matta added, “The enthusiasm of the kids was amazing. We were teaching the kids very advanced skills and they were demonstrating attention, patience, dedication, discipline, and respect. These are the reasons why we are very motivated to come and be here.”
Araujo would like to thank Alpine Securities, IGY Marinas, Yacht Haven Grande, Southland Gaming, and Antilles School for their support of the camp and their commitment to the youth of the Virgin Islands.
Organizers are planning to have the next event in July 2025.
