With the Caribbean Netball Association (CNA) Under 16 Jean Pierre Championships less than a month away, the Guyana Netball Association (GNA) has already begun to contemplate the tedious task of gathering funds to facilitate a team to attend the event which is scheduled to be held in St Kitts.
The competition is reportedly scheduled for April 6 – 17.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport, Vice-President of the GNA, Lawrence Griffith, stated that fund raising for the championships was one of the main things that was discussed when the newly elected body held its first meeting on March 1, at the offices of President Kim Kyte-John.
Griffith shared that the association had already sent out a few letters to potential sponsors, and they were eagerly awaiting the responses, while other means of fund raising are also being looked at.
According the Griffith, the members on the team remain the same as those which were sent to represent Guyana at the event last year in Barbados.
And, while the team did not manage to grab one of the top ranking positions, they managed to show significant improvement, relative to the previous year, having won their game against Bermuda and playing to a draw against St Kitts. The year before that, in Jamaica, the team failed to win any of its matches.
At last year’s competition the team had been commended for its exemplary discipline shown both off and on the court.
This year, further improvement is expected from the team should they be able to attend the event. The team is expected to ideally comprise 12 players and four officials.
However finances will play the determining factor.
One of the coaches of the team, Lawrence Kellman, said that the team’s training has been coming along fairly well with practice having become more intensified since January, in preparation for the upcoming championships. Kellman said he was confident of the team’s ability to rise above last year’s performance.
“Training has been coming along very good. The girls are flourishing, we’ve been playing a lot of practice matches, and the girls are trying to develop on themselves and their strategies. We are going out there hoping that this time around they are in the top positions, and they will do well,” Kellman said.
At present the entirely female team practices on weekends with coaches Kellman and Randolph Critchlow. The team is said to have a practice match scheduled for this weekend against the country’s leading club, Emanie. However arrangements for this are still tentative.
Meanwhile, in addition to discussing the association’s fundraising, Griffith said the association was also looking at ways of bettering the predominantly female sport locally.
Griffith said the association is looking into the possibility of having tournaments taken to places such as Essequibo, home of the Fearless Flyers Netball Club, as well as having tournaments spread out for longer periods. However, Griffith stressed that these were just suggestions.
