McIntosh working to close Girls' mental gap

Newly appointed Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) technical director, Jill McIntosh, believes the gap between the world number four-ranked Sunshine Girls and the world's top two teams, Australia and New Zealand, is mostly mental and must be addressed before the teams can compete on even keel.

MacIntosh, a renowned Australian coach, officially took charge of the Sunshine Girls unit last week and will have a five-month stint as the team prepares for this year's World Netball Championships (WNC) in Singapore from July 3-10.

According to McIntosh, while the Jamaican's are just as skilful as the other teams, they seem to lack the ability to deal with stressful in-game situations on the big occasion, an area which she and her unit will work to correct during the period.

"I think it's a very small gap, a very small gap, I think that what happens between the teams is decided on the day," McIntosh said.

"It comes down to the mental side of the preparations, whichever team is mentally strong enough will get the result."

Constantly under pressure

She added: "The group of coaches that have been working with the players now are trying to implement a lot of pressure and various challenges at training, the team is constantly put under pressure and in stressful situations. If they have to cope with it in training when they are stressed in a match situation they will be able to deal with it."

Having coached the Australian netball team to the World title in 2007, a tournament where the Jamaicans finished third, McIntosh also took time out to explain the fundamental differences between the teams.

"If you compare them to Australia both teams are very skilled, but it's different skills, we are built differently. The Jamaican team has lovely flair, they can jump high so you can put in more high balls in a match. Australians are built for speed, they can't jump as high so their game is moulded around a lower pass, but with more speed."

MacIntosh has worked with the national team on a few prior occasions, but this will be her longest stint.

Before now, her last visit was in July and August last year. On that occasion she initiated a Jamaica Award Netball Coaching Certifi-cation programme for seven local coaches.

The Jamaicans won the bronze medal at the last WNC in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2007.