Paul Wright | Glory for our Girls

When our Sunshine Girls left our shores to compete in the Fast5 Netball World Series in Melbourne, Australia, the head coach bemoaned the fact that our girls were a little short on fitness and practice.

Having beaten England in a 'test' series 3-0 prior to departure, that information somewhat dampened the spirits of local fans, who were optimistic after a series of favourable results against international competition. The frequent change of coaching staff, after success, did cause some apprehension as the team departed our shores.

However, the announcement that ace coach Winston Nevers was now part of the coaching hierarchy was good news. A radio interview with 'Scrappy' Nevers that revealed the plan to improve long-distance shooting (which attracts double points in Fast5) reassured us, the doting fans, that we would give a good account of ourselves in the competition.

As the competition started, cable-television watchers shouted "soup" when our ladies defeated New Zealand in a game by 33-22. New Zealand had won the championships on six previous occasions, and, after finishing fourth last year, revenge was a prime motivator. The Ferns had gone undefeated on the first day of the competition and looked awesome as the competition progressed. Therefore, the defeat of the Ferns gave us hope. No longer was 'sometimes third, most times fourth' on our minds. Victory was a distinct possibility. Well, we reached the finals and started the last quarter of the match more than 10 points behind the New Zealand Ferns, and things looked bleak, remembering that in the not-too -distant past, fourth-quarter fatigue and loss of concentration were our Achilles' heel. Also, during the game, our two-point shooting failed dramatically as Romelda Aiken and Thristina Harwood seemed to have radar problems. But in a remarkable display of grit and character, our heroes, our girls, fought back and, in the end, lost by one deggeh-deggeh point! Another silver medal. No more 'sometimes third, most times fourth'.

LACK OF RESOURCES

Australia defeated Malawi for third place and a bronze medal, and England defeated South Africa to finish fifth. Girls, you continue to prove to the world and indeed corporate Jamaica that you are the best Jamaican sports team when your international ranking is considered. How on Earth can "lack of resources" be a constant cry from team officials? This disrespect for female athletes is common in our fair isle, but with the results of our Reggae Girlz and our Sunshine Girls, and the Lady Crocs of Rugby embarrassing local businesses because of their lack of support, possibly, shame will tek them eye and tangible support becomes a reality for our women. Go girls!

The Minister of Health the Honourable Christopher Tufton has initiated a campaign aimed at reducing the sugar content of our food and drink, citing irrefutable scientific evidence that the amount of sugar that we, as a nation, consume has serious health problems. This campaign is rightly aimed at our children. The minister is concerned with the high sugar content of food and drink that is available to our children.

There has been a change in the sugar content of meals available from the government-provided food distributed to our schools. It therefore is surprising that it was a group of parents who first blew the whistle on the availability of cheap and controversially packaged Cici Liquid Fruit Candy, seemingly freely available outside the school gates of some of our schools.

It is hoped that the advocacy of Betty Ann Blaine and her Hear The Children's Cry group, as well as different parent teacher associations, will be successful in their efforts to curtail the availability of this product. My question however, is this: Is there any head teacher of any school in Jamaica who takes an interest in what is sold at the gates of their school? Is it that they just don't care, or is it that they are allowing vendors to 'eat a food,' regardless of what is made available to the children? I would love to get an answer.