National Volleyball champions, APR have launched early preparations ahead of the forthcoming 2021 Africa club championships where they are set to represent Rwanda.

Scheduled between March and April, the competition will bring together the best clubs from different African countries to rub shoulders so as to establish the continental champion who doubles as the continent’s representative in the Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship (FIVB).

APR will be Rwanda’s representative this year after winning the league title last season.

On Monday, January 4, the club started preparations for the competition, particularly with players having individual trainings from their residences under guidelines given by coaches.

Speaking to Times Sport on Monday, Elie Mutabazi, the head coach of the club said that due to the Covid-19 guidelines, the team has not started training together, adding that he had given his players tailor made training sessions for each of them as they try to secure clearance from the Ministry of Sports so that they can do team training in February.

He hinted at the team’s competitiveness going into the competition, saying they will trust the available young players to carry the club’s hopes going into the showpiece.

"We have very young players. Due to limited resources, we were not able to beef up the team with experienced players as we had wished, but we will try to use those we have,” he said.

This year, the army side added a few new faces to their ranks, but most of them are only youngsters.

They include Samuel Mugisha (middle-blocker), Regis Mugisha (setter) and Merci Gisubizo (left-attacker).

APR last appeared in the continental competition in 2015. In that year, they finished sixth at the 2015 African championships that took place in Sousse, Tunisia.