Barbados Boost Goal Difference Against Dominica

Barbados Goal Attack Sheniqua Thomas on the Defence

 Cognizant that they have to boost their goal difference in the U16 Jean Pierre CNA Championship if they are to snatch this year's competition from St. Lucia, Barbados came out in the evening with guns blazing limiting Dominica to just 9 goals to their 46.

An unchanged starting line up from the morning side of Shonica Wharton (GS), Sheniqua Thomas (GA), Tia Jones (WA), Tyneisha Rowe (C), Sade Browne (WD), Sade Sargeant (GD) and Shanice Wharton (GK).

The only blunder the team made was assisted by the coach who changed the WA Tia Jones in the second quarter.  Jones has been the play maker on the attack all tournament and with her out the Barbados attack struggle to find a rhythm.  That was their weakest quarter the interval scores being 12-2, 20-5 and 35-7.

Sweet Revenge for Barbados U16 Netballers Against St. Lucia

Barbados Shooter on the Ball

 Barbados are back in the runnings to becoming this year's CNA Jean Pierre U16 Netball Champions.  As I chanted a little "I say B for Barbados" to myself in the stands, I could feel the positive energy radiating from the Barbados team for this game.  They wanted a this victory and played their hearts out from the first whistle catching the St. Lucians flat footed and taking an early 5 goal lead which the St. Lucians pull back to a decent 9 -7 to Barbados by the end of the first quarter.

Barbados led all intervals 9-7, 18-15, 26-19 to finish with a well fought 33-31.  The starting line up for Barbados was (GS) Shonica Wharton, (GA) Sheniqua Thomas, (WA) Tia Jones, (C) Tyneisha Rowe,  (WD) Sade Browne, (GD) Sade Sargeant, and (GK) Shanice Wharton.

St. Lucia fought valiantly in the final quarter but the Barbados third quarter lead was too much and at the end it was the Bajans jumping for victory.

The two top teams this year will be striving to get big scores in their final games as they seek to improve their goal averages.  In the shooting area goal shooter Wharton scored 33 0f 29 while Thomas netted 5 of 9.

St. Lucia U16 talking to coaching staff

Other morning games.  Guyana 23 Anguilla 19
Trinidad and Tobago 32 - Dominica 19
Bermuda 19 - St. Kitts 12

Barbados U16 

Barbados vs St. Vincent and the Grenadines

The second game between Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean Netball Association Jean Pierre Under 16 netball championship started slopply and both teams fumbled, threw away the ball and were generally disorganised for the first quarter of the game.  It took almost 3 minutes or more for the first team to score which turned out to be Barbados.  The first quarter score ending a mere 6-2 in favour of Barbados.

Ok folkes, I don't have the team line up tonight but I will plug in the names tomorrow so bear with me. 

It was the Barbados defences that kept them in the game as the attack got use to playing with the new goal shooter. 

Especially the goal keeper who had an outstanding game making interceptions from start to finish. 

The Barbados defences were so effective that St. Vincent were only allowed 3 goals in the 2nd quarter, the other interval scores were 18-5, and 27-9.  Barbados eventually completed a convincing comprehensive 35-15 defeat over the Vincies. 

Jamaica $1mil. Pepsi Boost/Ties England In Series

The Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) recently received a cheque for J$1m from Pepsi-Cola Jamaica, through its brand Gatorade . Aside from the cash donation, Pepsi-Cola has reportedly also pledged an undisclosed quantity of Gatorade and Aqua Essential Purified Water products to hydrate the players during training camps and tournaments and has assisted with the construction of a study room at the association's home located in Barbican.

This is great news for the Caribbean's number one team. The question is what is happening with Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados since they qualified for the world tournament. I had heard that Trinidad is making some strides, importing coaches with international experience to help prepare the team.

But will the teams from the South do enough to catch their Northern counterparts who are ranked #4 in the world.

Jamaica just concluded a two game series with England. England won the first game and Jamaica fought back tooth and nail to win the second. It is obvious that Barbados and Trinidad will have to scouts out sponsors and play a number of competitive games if they are going to take more than a jolly ride to the World Games as all the top teams have already started their preparations.

Final Day AFNA

The 2010 Americas Federation of Netball Associations Championships in St. Lucia was one of the most competitive thus far. Each team gave a splendid account of themselves and some of the score lines really belied the skill and athleticism displayed on court.

All the teams have improved tremendously even Canada who did not win a game was no walk over, all the teams had to really play them to win.

On the final day, Barbados bounced back from their upset defeat against home team St. Lucia and went about the task of strengthening their goal average against Canada to secure 2nd place in the competition beating out the USA and St. Lucia.

This was made easy by what may have been a fluke for Barbados. With first line goal keeper Lisa Puckerin sidelined by injury, Laurel Browne was

put in this role and she played surprisingly beautifully. Canada was clearly not expecting her height in the circle as they switch out their tall goal shooter Sabrina Versteeg to GA for this game, starting GA Tiffanie Wolfe went to the WA position while Amanda Bonger played goal shooter.

Browne made so many interceptions that it totally released any pressure Canada may have brought to the game upfront. As usual Canada had a strong start, the first quarter score 15-10 in favour of Barbados. Barbados however got progressively stronger while Canada faded, the other intervals scores 29-18 and 45-27 reflected this. Barbados went on to win with a comfortable 60-31 margin.

The starting side for Barbados was Lydia Bishop GS, Nikita Piggott GA, Sabrina Browne WA, Sabrina Smith C, Kizzy Marville WD, Latoya Blackman GD with Browne at GK.

Shooting Stats: Bishop scored 34 of 39 goals for 87% while Piggot had 93% average scoring 26 of her 28 attempts.

For Canada GS Amanda Bonger scored 17 of 27 while Sabrina Verteeg scored 14 of 23.

USA finished 3rd in the competition. In their final game they defeated St. Vincent and the Grenadines 63-39. USA Goal Shooter, Georgina Hibbert who had an outstanding tournament netted 53 of her 57 attempts while goal attack Petra Williams scored 10 of 12. St. Vincent used a total of five shooters. Gailene Gordon, the starting shooter, netted 15 of 17 goals before she left the position at half time. Mary-Ann Federick had one quarter and she scored 9 of 12. In the last quarter Jasmine Frank scored 3 of 5. Tamara Samuel started at the goal attack position and she netted 9 of 10 goals while substitute Roseclair Hall scored 3 of 6.

Champions Trinidad and Tobago completed a clean sweep of the competition dispatching host country St. Lucia 58-45. The intervals scores all in favour of Trinidad were 14-11, 26-23 and 42-30. Up until half time St. Lucia looked to have a fighting chance however Trinidad switched gears and they did not have the gas to follow.

Shooting stats

Trinidad: Anastacia Wilson (GS) 49 of 52, Joelisa Cooper (GA) 5 fo 7 and substitute GA Janelle Barker 4 of 5.

St. Lucia : Dedra Mathurine (GS) 17 of 19, Shem Maxwell 13 of 15 and substitute GA Merlissa Alfred 15 of 17.

Under 16 Barbados

Could not start the AFNA qualifiers without congratulating Jamaica on winning the Jean Pierre CNA under 16 tournament in Barbados.

Easily the weakest Jamaica under 16 team I have seen in a long while (no giants nor overly athletic looking, could pass for seniors girls) it tells us how far the rest of the Caribbean have to go to catch up to Jamaica not just on skills but on pure guts and determination.

Photographer Grantley Sealy has kindly shared his photos from the tournament with me which will be placed on this site in an album at the end of the month so look out for it. For prosterity, The final standing were:

1st Jamaica

2nd Barbados

3rd Trinidad and Tobago

4th St. Lucia

5th St. Vincent and the Grenadines

6th Grenada

7th Dominica

In the Group B section Bermuda demonstrated some impressive skills to place 1st, Guyana who played in the top group last year were second, St. Kitts 3rd and the Cayman Island 4th.

SunShine Girls Gloom

England knocked all the sunshine out of Jamaica, white washing them in their three match series.

The England Captain on the Sky blog said that "It has been a great week for us, winning 3-0 in The Co-operative International Netball Test Series against Jamaica. " She said that Jamaica had improve but so had they.

It will be the u21s turn to bring some glory back to Jamaica in their series later this month against Australia.

Happy Netball Year

I am back after a wonderful break in December. I love December - its my birth month and of course it is Christmas. Although I had lots to blog about - the Barbados Workers Union League Winners for example, BNA elections etc. I was in a total holiday mood, and since most of my work is done on the computer, even my beloved blog was considered work. But now I am back to the grind.

What have we missed?

Congratulations to Brydens V8 Splash for winning the Div One and Two titles in the Barbados Workers Union League. Veronica Harris who was rooming with me last year in Antigua at the Under 16 tournament when I started this blog, must be very proud of her team. Send me your photos and I will put them up for your. The Juniors division was won by Almond Sports Club who also won the Junior Knock-Out. The Senior Knock-Out was won by Ellerton Sports Club.

OF The BNA

Well their administration woes continued as they did not fill all the vacant board positions. A meeting called on old year's night or New Year's Eve depending on where you live in the Caribbean did not muster a quorum (I don't think they really expected a quorum on this day when most women are sorting out hair, clothes, make-up etc, to look gorgeous the night).
Today's Nation Newspaper reports that this meeting is now to be held on January 20 at 5:30 pm at the National Stadium Lounge. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

Caribbean Games
Some major tournaments will be coming up this year including the Inaugural Caribbean Games in Trinidad and Tobago, July 12-19. We will keep our ears to the ground on this one.

Happy New Year
Thanks to everyone who read my blog in 2008, sent notes of encouragement or gave me kudos in person. Knowing that the blog is being read is a great inspiration. Have a blessed, prosperous and happy 2009.

St. Kitts Business League Gets Going

The St. Kitts Sun reports that ten teams are competing in the 2008 St. Kitts Business Netball League, which started last Saturday in Netball City.

Competing Organisations: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), St. Kitts/Nevis Anguilla National Bank (NB), Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College, Kajola, St. Kitts/Nevis Development Bank, Cable & Wireless, Government Mix, Reeds Data Services and the Customs Department.

Click on the photo for the St. Kitts Sun Article.

AFNA Championships 2008 Finals Preview

Well its left to Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica to determine the 2008 AFNA Champions.  Jamaica has the best goal average with 233 goals for and  94 goals against to Trinidad's 209 -137.

 

In other games Barbados' third place finish seems pretty secured as they are matched against bottom of the table team Canada. 

 

St. Vincent and the Grenadines however will have to fight to restore their spectators confidence and support against St. Lucia.

These two are well known rivals and the victory could go either way.

Barbados Defeats St. Lucia

Barbados easily dispatched St. Lucia 54-35 yesterday in the AFNA 2008 Championships. The Bajans led all intervals 18-6, 35-12 and 22-47.  

With Nikita Piggott on the bench reportedly for disciplinary matters, coach Harriet Waithe opted to start with Laurel Browne (GS), Lydia Bishop (GA), Don Small (WA), Sabreena Smith (C), Kizzy Marville (WD), Jeneice Clarke (GD) and Rhe Ann Niles (GK).  

The St. Lucians opted to start Shem Maxwell back at her original GA position and bring Barb Joseph-Theobalds back at (GS).  The other players were Deselva Florton (WA) Roxanne Synder (C) Sherma Benti (WD), Michelle Rogers (GD) and Judie Mathurin (GK).

Barbados dominated from start.  GA Lydia Bishop despite her heavy frame moved well and was successful feeding the ball to Browne especially in the first half of the game.  The defenses however stole the show. 

 School girl, and Barbados under 16 captain Jeneice Clarke looked larger than life on court making life difficult for the far more experience Shem  Maxwell.  

St. Lucia however was to get their pound of flesh in the second half of the game when Barbados lost three of its defenses to injury, Martindale, Lisa Puckerin who came into the game as a substitute and Clarke.  The worst was Martindale who sustain a blow to the head and had to be carried off the court on a stretcher.  She is however fine and back in camp nursing a migraine type headache.

St. Lucia also would have come off the game feeling proud of their fourth quarter performance scoring 13 goals to Barbados' 7 as the Bajans became very disorganised after their players exited with injuries.

Trinidad In With A Chance

Statistically, Trinidad and Tobago is in with a chance to win this year's AFNA Championships. 

Apart from Jamaica, they are they only unbeaten team left after two days of play.  Last night they dispatched St. Lucia 13-7, 25-12, 35-22 and 50-29. 

It was however not smooth sailing as their shooters went into some missing patches which gave St. Lucia pockets of hope, especially in the third quarter when they were able to pull back with six goals after Trinidad's convincing twelve goal half time lead.  The damage was however 

done by Trinidad's superior speed and defensive play. 

The Line-Ups:

Trinidad - Anastascia Wilson (GS), Jelisa Cooper (GA), Rhonda John (WA), Tricia Liverpool (C), Kemba Duncan (WD), Crystal George (GD) and Anika La Roche (GK)

St. Lucia - Barb Joseph - Theobalds (GS), Shem Maxwell (GA), Deselva Florton (WA), Roxanne Synder (C), Sherma Benti (WD), Michelle Rogers (GD) and  Jodie Mathurin (GK).

OECS Under 23

The OECS Under 23 tournament is well on the way in St. Lucia. Click on the picture to read the Star report on line.

St. Kitts took the lead on Tuesday with its fourth straight victory.

Jamaica's Squad to the AFNA Tournament

Jamaica will be looking to take this year's AFNA tournament scheduled for St. Vincent and the Grenadine July 18-26.

The Caribbean's highest ranking netball side has seven under 21s on the team which they will be blooding for next year's world youth championship. Despite this, given their level of exposure to netball at the highest level, (the Australian Institute of Sport was just in Jamaica) they will fancy their chances of easily sweeping the lesser financially equipped and internationally exposed Eastern/ Southern Caribbean sides.

Simone Forbes is the captain and the seven under 21 are are: Goal shooter Christina Solmon, who also represented the country at last year's World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand, Crystal Gordon, Vanessa Walker, Malysha Kelly, Sabrina Spence, Sateva Taylor and Tracey-Ann Robinson.

Senior team members are: vice-captain Nadine Bryan, Nichala Gibson, Nicole Aiken and Samantha Mundle. The team's coach is former national shooter Connie Francis, assistant, Antoinette Daley.

Happy Birthday Kathy Harper-Hall

Happy birthday to one of the icons of Caribbean netball, Kathy Harper-Hall.

Harper-Hall's warmth and natural motherly nature has touched hundreds of young people across the Caribbean in a positive way and her name evokes tons of goodwill.

Untiring as a sports administrator her legacy is one of dedication to youth and providing positive outlets for their energies. Of course this must also be the secret to her very youthful looks.

Harper-Hall when you were in your fifties I told you I wanted to look like you when I get that age. Haven't reached yet but now I also want to look as good as you do when I reach 70.

Enjoy your family in Jamaica and return home safe to your Barbadian family.

Australia Institute of Sports in the Caribbean

Australia tours Jamaica this week. The Observer reports on Friday that they defeated Jamaica 55-31 in the first game. What does this mean for Jamaica - well that they will put in a whole lot of work between now and next year. They certainly have the resources to do so.

Isn't it interested to note that the Institute would come all the way to the Caribbean and would not as much as pay a visit to any of the other islands?

Do you think it was the President of IFNA who is Jamaican that brokered this visit? I wonder who is looking out for the interest of the rest of the Caribbean?

Click on the photo for the link to the Observer's story.

Netball In Tobago

This picture was taken from the Tobago News, click on it to read their story.

It was reporting on the Tobago Zone of the Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Netball league. While I was happy to see the young ladies exercising I was very dismay at their size.

Caribbean women we really have to take stock. The Diabetes Foundation is my client, and I am stunned at the Diabetes Statistic for Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean. We have to control our eating urges and exercise more self discipline and self love in our lives.

OECS Under 23Tournament on the Horizon

The OECS Under 23 Tournament is set for the Beausejour facility in St. Lucia from July 5-11.

Along with St. Lucia, the other countries that have confirmed their participation are: St Kitts, Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua & Barbuda and St Vincent & the Grenadines.

Hurray for the OECS! The tournament will be indoors and will present them with a good opportunity to look at their talent coming up to next years' junior worlds.

Jamaica may have Australia to compete against but the OECS have a wonderful resource in each other and I salute and encourage them to make the most of the competition, and help to build each other's game. Unless all the teams of the Caribbean are strong we will go no where. Jamaica has always from as long as I can remember chosen to absent itself from Caribbean netball until they were forced to by the world body.

If the Caribbean collaborate as a unit and have regular goodwill tournaments we are sure to be a world threat as we are born with the natural talent but lack the level of competition and financial infrastructure to elevate us. Netball is the one sport that the Caribbean has always had a decent world ranking in and it is time for us to really exploit this.

Structural Systems Systems Silver Raiders are the Bajan Queens

Structural Systems Silver Raiders sat back and watched the Barbados Netball Association division one crown being handed to them on a platter by Pine Hill St. Barbados last night.

St. Barnabas had to get pass top team C.O.Williams Rangers but was below par succumbing to Rangers 35-39.

Look out for my uncut views on the season, the players, officials and the BNA coming this weekend.

Thanks to Julie Phillips for the below stats on the game.

Cable and Wireless Division 1 Results

Pine Hill St. Barnabas			C.O.Williams Rangers
		Att	Scored		Att	Scored
GS	Denise Alleyne	25	17	Nakita Piggott	43	37
GA	Marvalene Neblett	24	18	Natalie Miller	4	2
GA

1^st Q:- 9 – 8 Pinehill

2^nd : 19 -15 Rangers

3^rd Q:- 32 -23 Rangers

4thQ:- 39 -35 Rangers

JAMALCO - Jamaica's Super League Champions

Jamaica's top team Jamalco won its sixth consecutive title defeating Tivoli in a close encounter 43-42. Waulgrovians 'A' won third place by thrashing Jetsetters 'A' 66-38.

Click on the picture to read the full Gleaner Newspaper report of the games.