Disappointed and embarrassed!

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Local netball boss, Marva Bernard, said her administration was greatly disappointed and embarrassed by the Sunshine Girls' poor performances at the just-concluded World Netball Championships (WNC), which ended in Singapore on July 10.

Bernard, the president of the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA), in her first official reaction since the Sunshine Girls returned home from the Asian continent where they failed to retain the bronze medal which they won in Auckland, New Zealand, four years ago, said her association was left searching for answers after they were humi-liated by Australia and England.

"No one in the world of netball could have expected Jamaica to perform as poorly as we did in our semi-final match and in the play-off for third place," said Bernard during a press conference which was held at the Sports Development Foundation office on Phoenix Avenue, St Andrew, yesterday.

The Oberon Pitterson-coached netballers were outclassed 82-46 by the Australians in the semi-final. The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked fourth in the world, were then humiliated 70-49 by arch-rivals England in the third-place play-off a day later

"We did not produce the desired results on the given days," Bernard said. "Quite simply, we were mentally not strong enough."

Continuing, Bernard said: "In retrospect, the issue had little to do with our physical conditioning whether we played four quarters as some people have said or whether we played Romelda (Aiken) at goal shoot or goal attack. At end of the day, the team did not perform as well as we expected."

Higher expectations

Bernard added that in the build-up to the tournament in Singapore, the team performed well in their two home international series, beating England 2-1 in a series and drawing 1-1 with champions Australia.

"So even if we did not win the title at the World Netball Championships, there is no doubt that we should have performed much better," Bernard said.

Bernard added that the expectation was high going into the championships, and they felt that they could have come away with either the gold or silver medal.

"We are very disappointed that we did not and Jamaica placed fourth in the championship," she said.

The president further stated that the JNA would be implementing a number of changes to their programmes as they look to rebuild for the Commonwealth Games and WNC.

"The JNA is committed to doing everything that is humanly possible to lift the performances of the team including taking on board suggestions made by the wider public," Bernard noted.