Our national netballers deserve all the support they can get

Rich plaudits are due to Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls for their battle-winning victory over the England Roses in the Vitality Netball Horizon Series, which concluded in Kingston earlier this week.

The four-game series – which, as we hear, is to be played every year for four years – began in Manchester, England on November 16 with a thrilling 49-49 draw.

The England Roses won the second game 61-53 to take a 1-0 lead heading into the second half of the series at the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston.

At home, in front of enthusiastic home fans, the Sunshine Girls came through to win the third game – a close match – by a single goal, 50-49.

The Jamaicans went on to win the series 61-53 in the final game.

Readers may recall that our national netballers covered themselves in glory in mid-2023 when they won the bronze medal at the Netball World Cup.

The Vitality Netball Horizon Series – which we are told aims to encourage international level competition and growth of the sport in Jamaica and England – is an important part of the build-up to the next Netball World Cup in 2027.

By winning the inaugural competition, Jamaica took home the Rhone Hornsby Trophy, which honors legendary Jamaican sports administrator and former national player, Ms. Molly Rhone, as well as Ms. Jean Hornsby, an Englishwoman who is said to have broken barriers as the first black female player to represent his country.

Jamaica’s series victory is particularly encouraging as the national team has been inactive for 17 months since the last Netball World Cup.

On the other hand, we are told that the Roses have played 17 international matches over the same period.

“…to come out and put in a performance like that against a team that has played 17 test matches since the World Cup is very commendable,” reported Sunshine Girls captain Ms. Shamera Sterling Humphrey. The Gleaner » as the newspaper declared following the series’ decision.

We suspect that the lack of international playing time reflects a long-standing challenge for Jamaican sport: insufficient funding.

There is no doubt that national netball coach, Ms Sasher-Gaye Henry, had this resource challenge in mind when she noted at the start of the series against England that training had started late for some of its players.

“We had so many limitations (but), despite our limitations… we still did well. We didn’t have all the girls at training – they came late…” Ms Henry said, according to this newspaper.

Very worrying is a Radio Jamaica story reporting that Ms. Henry was concerned that although the team’s analyst, Mr. Kyle Hendricks, had been a great help to the Sunshine Girls, there was uncertainty as to how long he would remain at board due to money worries.

Team analysis using available technologies is a matter of course in modern professional and international sports. Hence Ms. Henry’s assertion that her team needs an analyst “all the time” so players can correct mistakes and improve their play.

We believe that the positive spin-off of sporting success for the national brand, in all respects, is too great for Jamaican business and government to even be seen as hesitant to support the Sunshine Girls in their quest for greater glory.