Netball teams fly out for Florida Classics
Published:Friday | November 19, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer
Defending champions University of the West Indies are among six teams scheduled to depart the island today for the Florida Netball Classics, which will be held at Central Broward Region Park today and tomorrow.
Other teams scheduled to leave the island are telecommunications company LIME, Jamaica Public Service, South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), as well as Mobile Reserve Area 7, 8, and 9 teams.
Allister Roper, organiser of this year's event, said he was expecting a very exciting and competitive championships.
"I think that we will have an exciting tournament because the teams will compete for a number of cash prizes, and so everybody will be going all out to win it," said Roper.
"This is one of the best netball tournaments in America and a lot of persons in and around the Caribbean will be coming to watch and also take part in the event, because all the matches are going to be very exciting," Roper said.
Confident team
Dalton Hinds, coach of LIME, said his team was very confident going into this year's tournament.
"Our expectations are very high because we have gone to this tournament in the past and we have done fairly well. We have finished second and so we are quite upbeat," said Hinds.
"We have worked and we have trained very hard and so we are not going there for the fun of it, we are going there to win it and to also take home this trophy," he said.
Hinds added: "However, we are going to have to be consistent at what we do, because we have to play good, attacking netball and we also have to ensure that we play good, solid defence."
Former national player Althea Brown, manager of SERHA, said she was very optimistic about her team's chances.
"We are going out there to win because want to take home this trophy," said Brown. "We are very confident because we have been playing together for a very long time and we know our team's strengths and weaknesses, and we have also trained very hard in our preparations for this tournament," she added.