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End of the road?... Senior netballers reportedly considering retirement

Published:Thursday | August 4, 2011 | 12:00 AM
President of the Jamaica Netball Association, Marva Bernard (right), makes a point to members of the media during a press conference recently at the Sports Development Foundation on Phoenix Avenue in St Andrew. Looking on are head coach of the Sunshine Girls, Oberon Pitterson (centre), and team manager Hyacinth Smith. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

There is some amount of uncertainty hanging over the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) senior programme, as a number of their key players have indicated that they would not be returning to the team ahead of upcoming assignments.

The players' decision could be a result of the Sunshine Girls' poor performance at last month's World Netball Championships in Singapore, where they failed to win a medal.

When contacted yesterday, Marva Bernard, president of the JNA, confirmed this to The Gleaner, but insisted that the administration is still going through the debriefing process with players, an exercise which was scheduled to end yesterday.

"We don't know yet but as soon as the debriefing ends today (yesterday) we will have a clearer idea of what is going to happen," said Bernard.

"Some of them (seniors players) have indicated that they want to stop, and so we would just have to wait and see how we move forward after this," Bernard added.

Fastnet tournament

The Sunshine Girls are scheduled to take part in the FastNet World Series tournament, which will be held in November in Liverpool, England.

In Singapore, the Jamaicans were embarrassed 82-46 by eventual champions Australia in the semi-final of the championship, which was the worst defeat suffered by the locals at the hands of the Aussies at the high-profile tournament.

This also led to head coach Oberon Pitterson blaming senior players for the poor showing and weak efforts against the Australians.

Pitterson in particular singled out defender Althea Byfield for failing to contain the Australian defenders. The Sunshine Girls, who are ranked No. 4 in the world, were also thrashed 70-49 in their bronze-medal game against England.

This was the first time the Jamaicans failed to win a medal at the championships since 2003, having won the bronze at the last two tournaments.

Captain Nadine Bryan (34), vice-captain Sasher-Gaye Henry (31), Byfield (28), Paula Thompson (25) and Nicole Aiken-Pinnock (25) were among the senior players who participated in last month's WNC.