With almost 70 years linked to Dominican volleyball, first as a player, then as a coach, trainer, teacher and even a psychologist, Giovanni -Mayo- Sibilia waited for a space in the Dominican Sports Hall of Fame.
Through the hands of Doña Mayo, who is a promoter, more than a thousand girls have passed, including mother’s daughters (the Queens of the Caribbean).
Gina Mambru, Prisilla Rivera; the sisters Brayelin and Jineiry Martínez; in addition to the already immortal sports Milagros Cabral, Cosiris Rodríguez, Yudelkis Bautista and Thelma Tejada.
“A while ago,” Mambrú said when asked if Mayo Sibilia, her base teacher, should be in the Hall of Fame.
“As a promoter, she should have been in the pavilion a long time ago,” exclaimed Mambrú, part of the national volleyball team.
“He taught me to bowl, the impulse run in the attack, the base, in addition to having responsibility with work, to feel on the field, the values in sports, among other things,” said Mambrú, who has just reinforced in Indonesia.
Mambrú, a native of Cristo Rey, came into the hands of Mayo at the age of 13, he recalled that he spent two years in training with Sibilia, whom he treats every time he sees her as if she were a mother.
“We always keep in touch. I have great respect for Mrs. Mayo, I greet her, I thank her for the time she invested in me, she is still a good person, when I see her I don’t know where I want to put her, “said Mambrú.
Sibilia won eight titles in the top volleyball tournament, seven with Mirador and one with Club Naco.
Mayo was the first female assistant for the senior national team and later a coach.
The mother of the Queens of the Caribbean directed all the selections, from children, youth and even the superior. She has quite a wide pedigree as a manager, from Central Americans and worlds.
She was the first woman to be a top trainer.
Mayo was honorary president of the 50th Ceremonial of the Dominican Sports Hall of Fame.
Sibilia was born in Puerto Plata. She started volleyball there from the age of 11 as one more, thanks to the physical education teacher Otilio Mirabel, who walked the streets of that province looking for girls to play that sport. She trained at the Gustavo Bernhardt Sports Club, in that province.
The former national team preferred a volleyball, while her sisters asked their parents for dolls and kitchen sets.
“At the beginning I was on the bench (1962), I was the most rookie of the team, but later, as in 1970, I was the captain, I played until 1974”, from there she began her journey as a coach until 1993, when enters the project as a trainer.
