MUSHTAQUE MOHAMMED, who grew up playing volleyball in his backyard in south Trinidad and has been devoted to the sport all his life, became the first person from the English-speaking Caribbean to be elected a board member of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) last week.

Already the holder of several key posts in the region, Mohammed was accepted at a NORCECA (North America and the Caribbean) Congress in Guatemala where all the members voted in his favour.

’It is an honour to become the first son from Caribbean soil to be accepted into the world body and I hope to represent Trinidad and Tobago and the region to the best of my ability,’ stated Mohammed, who also hopes that his presence in the FIVB will afford the region more benefits.

It was a night that the 47-year-old will never forget as he also received a special award for his contribution towards the success of the recent NORCECA qualifying tournaments-19 in all, men’s and women’s-for next year’s World Championships.

Mohammed has been the vice-president of NORCECA since 1996, three years after he became the president of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) and two years before he was elected president of the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation (TTVF).

Mohammed, who probably wears more important hats than any other administrator in the region, is still the president of CAZOVA and the TTVF and he has also been the vice-president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee since 1997.

He has been playing the game for as long as he could remember and, although his schedule is packed to capacity, still finds time to represent Southern United Volleyball Academy in the over-45 division of the annual league competition.

Mohammed, who last played open competition three years ago for the same club in the second division, first got involved in administration when he took charge of the South Zone schools league in the mid-1980s and then became president of the newly-formed national schools league for a short time.

Representing his then club San Fernando Panthers at the annual general meeting in ’89, he became TTVF secretary and held on until the post of president landed in his lap when Peter Mungal resigned mid-way through his second four-year team in ’98.

He contested the elections of 2000, ’04 and last year and has been elected unopposed as president on all three occasions.