McIntosh gives Sunshine Girls grand chance
Published:Friday | June 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer
Jill McIntosh, technical director of the Jamaica Netball Association, said the Sunshine Girls stand a realistic chance of winning the gold medal at next month's World Netball Championships (WNC).
The Jamaicans are set to leave the island on June 26 for the championships, which will be held in Singapore from July 3-10.
"I don't see any reason why they (Sunshine Girls) can't win," said McIntosh, a WNC winning coach with Australia.
"They have a group of highly skilled individuals and they are gelling together very nicely, and so it just comes down to putting it together when the championships begins," she said.
The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world, have retained six members of the squad which won bronze at the 2007 World Championships in New Zealand.
They are captain Nadine Bryan, vice-captain Sasher-Gaye Henry, Nicole Aiken, Althea Byfield, Romelda Aiken and Paula Thompson. Jhaniele Fowler, Anna-Kay Griffths, Kimone Tulloch, Kameika Sherwood and Malysha Kelly will be making the trip to the World Championships for the first time.
"They have a very talented group of 12 ladies and they can play numerous positions because there will be six games in seven days when they get to the championships," McIntosh said.
Hard schedule
She continued: "It is a very hard schedule and the coaches will be putting them on and taking them off, in trying to rest legs, and so they will need all 12 players when they get to Singapore."
McIntosh added that the Jamaicans will need to take it one game at a time so as to preserve themselves for the quarter-finals and beyond.
"We just have to make sure that it all comes together at the right time, and that is for the first match, and so they need to take it one match at a time and don't get ahead of themselves," she said. "They need to make it to the semi-finals and, hopefully, to the final and so every aspect of the preparation needs to be covered and will be covered by the coaches, as they go along," McIntosh reasoned.