The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MARGARET ‘Muggy’ Albury, a former women’s national volleyball player, never had the opportunity to take her game to the next level, playing on the professional circuit. But she’s extremely proud that her son, Byron Ferguson has broken the barrier and is now making his presence felt.

For the past two years, the 25-year-old has been spiking the ball as a member of the Finland Professional Volleyball League. The 2006 graduate of Queen’s College is currently waiting to seal a new deal for the upcoming season in August. But in the meantime, he’s continuing to represent the Bahamas at the various international tournaments.

“To play is the easy part when it comes to being a professional athlete, especially from the Bahamas,” Ferguson stressed. “The most difficult part is A. being the only player from your country and B. being so far from home. I played the last two years in Finland and I just got home at the end of March.

“Right now I’m considering where I’m going to play for the next season in August, but right now my focus is on the national team. We just got back from Puerto Rico where we got a bronze medal and we are trying to defend our title in a few weeks in Trinidad.”

In the first instance, Rolle was referring to the NORCECA Men’s World Championship Qualification Tournament in Puerto Rico where he men finished third, just shy of earning a berth in the 24-team FIVB Men’s World Championships scheduled for August 30 to September 21 in six cities in Poland.

In the latter case, he was referring to the men’s trip to Trinidad & Tobago where they will have to defend their title at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships from July 18-28.

Through the previous trips that he made as a member of the national team, Ferguson said he was contacted just before he graduated from Lindenwood University, about becoming a pro player and he took the offer, along with Prince Wilson, to play in Denmark.

While Wilson decided not to stick it out, Ferguson hung around for a few months before he opted out of the contract and signed a new one in Finland two years.

“In order to stay on top of your game, you have to stay in shape and be discipline,” Ferguson pointed out. “You have to stay in shape year round because you never know when another team will call you. As I play there, if the (Bahamas Volleyball) federation call me to play on the national team, I have to come. So it’s a good effort to be a professional player.”

The good thing for the Bahamas, according to federation president Joseph ‘Joe Mo’ Smith, is the fact that there is a clause in Ferguson’s contract that enables him to take a break from his pro team to travel to represent the Bahamas. Smith, however, said the federation will have to re-negotiate with Ferguson’s new team for the same feature before he sign the next contract.

And to make it more manageable, if Ferguson’s season is still going on, his team make the arrangement to fly him to and from the tournament wherever the Bahamas is playing.

“Volleyball is volleyball. It isn’t that hard,” said Ferguson, about joggling his time at the professional and international level. “The only difference is that the game is slower at home. But the skill level at the professional level is higher than every player in the Caribbean.

“I’ve been playing on the national team since 2006, but we’ve only had about four or five competitive teams. The other teams we can beat easily. In Europe, every game, you have play 100 percent and as hard as you can. The game home is much slower and that’s the biggest challenge for me right now, trying to get back to playing slow and then I have to speed it up again when I go back.”

The former Technician player said since he joined the Scotiabank Defenders, he’s gotten more opportunities to travel and compete so that he can keep his game on the cutting edge.

“Just playing more, to go along with my college experience, has made a big difference in my game,” he insisted.

At the last tournament in Puerto Rico, Ferguson said he was surprised at the team’s performance because they didn’t practice together as a team in months. They didn’t have a venue that they could consistently use.

“The last time I was with the team was in November in Canada, so I feel that because we have a strong core (of players), most of us have been to college and we played together, we were able to pull if off,” said Ferguson, who along with Jon Isaacs were named the two best middle blockers.

“Track isn’t the only sport where we are showing our talent. But track shut us down in the gym (after Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium was used for the accreditation center for the IAAF World Relays). We are back in practice, so our main goal is to win CVC again.”

For the younger players, who aspire to follow in Ferguson’s footsteps, he offered this simple advise: “Stay humble and continue to practice. It’s much harder to go professional from where we’re from. Everybody will tell you that. They would rather take their own first, so you have to be on top of your game. Stay in shape, be consistent and be discipline.”

Margaret Albury said ever since her son got a hang of playing the sport, he envisioned playing pro and she made sure that she was there to encourage him in his pursuit.

“I am most proud of his accomplishment,” she stressed. “He had a dream and as a parent, I told him to follow it and I assisted him in every way. He came out to play volleyball at a late stage. He must have been about 16. He always wanted to play basketball.

“But the first time he realized that he could really hit the ball, he was hooked. From there on in, he said he wanted to play professional volleyball and I assisted him in that venture. Hopefully I can get get paid back.”

While he’s waiting to get set up for his next paycheck, Ferguson said he would prefer to play in France because “it’s closer to home” and the conditions there are much better, considering that he barely saw any “black people” in Finland. But he said if the opportunity presents itself again, he would not turn down a contract to return to Finland or any other country to continue his pro career.