Manager of the national junior female netball team Shondell Samaroo says that the team is where it needs to be in terms of preparation for the Caribbean Netball Association (CNA) Jean Pierre Under-16 Championships that officially starts today in St Kitts.
The team is expected to leave Guyana this afternoon for the week long tournament with matches beginning Friday.
Samaroo said that the team wrapped up its last practice session Monday afternoon at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and noted that the players have been producing good performances.
“We’re getting there but we’re still not there as yet,” she said.
“We still have some financial aspects to work out. Other than the financial assistance the girls are ready, we have some things that we are working on in terms of the performance but I think they are where they need to be,” Samaroo told Stabroek Sport.
The team will consist of 11 players accompanied by three officials but apart from Samaroo, the identity of the other officials are still tentative.
Samaroo pointed out that most of the players had attended the tournament last year and said they should be familiar with the level of competition at the tournament.
“We have dealt with the girls’ mental preparedness.
“Most of the girls on the team are predominantly the same as last year, so it’s not something new for them, they know what the competition is like and so they just have to work towards what they want,” Samaroo related.
This will be the third year that Guyana will be represented at the tournament and they have managed incremental improvements over the last two years.
Last year at the championships in Barbados, the team won against Bermuda and played to a draw with St Kitts as opposed to not winning a game in Jamaica the previous year.
At last year’s tournament the team was commended for its exemplary discipline both off and on the court.
Meanwhile, newly-elected President of the Guyana Netball Association, Kim Kyte-John, says she is very optimistic of the team’s performance.
“I am very optimistic in terms of what their performance will be [at the tournament].
They have been really practicing and I am really encouraged by them and I feel they will go out there and make us proud, they will make Guyana proud,” Kyte-John declared.
One of the coaches of the team, Lawrence Kellman, also said that the team is in excellent form for the tournament.
“The team has been doing excellent. We had a couple of matches against one of the best clubs in the country, Emanie.
And we would have noticed that commitment with the girls, they have really been working well together.” Kellman said.
