Girls hit peak form
Published: Saturday | August 15, 2009
Jamaica's Under-21 netball coach, C. Lloyd Walker, believes his players are hitting peak at the right time, following their successes so far at the World Youth Netball Championship in the Cook Islands.
The young Sunshine Girls registered their third consecutive victory on Thursday, an easy 76-35 win over Malawi.
Romelda Aiken led the Jamaicans with an impressive 59 goals from 61 attempts, while Crystal Gordon, 10 goals from 12 tries and captain Christina Solmon, seven goals from eight attempts, were the other scorers.
Peaking at the right time
"I think that the girls are peaking at the right time because it was strategically planned and I think it is working out for us. We are coming into our own at the appropriate time," said Walker.
"We have to be really poor in our delivery in order for us to lose a game at this time because I think that we are equal in our understanding of the game like all the other top teams in the competition," Walker said.
Jamaica finished fourth at the last tournament in Wales and according to Walker, the girls are in high spirits and they are highly motivated and ready to win the gold medal for Jamaica.
"I believe that we have to make more turnovers in order not to lose against any other top team because I think that only Jamaica can beat Jamaica at this point in this competition," Walker said.
However, Walker noted that there are still a few things that they need to work on before the quarter-finals, which begin on Monday.
"We have been winning, but we haven't been technically correct in some areas in terms of understanding and movements on the court," Walker said. "However, I think that we have time to work on them before the quarter-finals on Monday," he said.
Walker added the ace goal shooter Romelda Aiken, who aggravated an ankle injury in their opening victory over United States, which caused her to missed the second match against Singapore, has recovered nicely and is fit and ready to go.
"I heard that people in Jamaica are saying that Romelda is injured and out, but nothing like that. She is fine and will take part in all our remaining matches," said Walker.
Jamaica were scheduled to play Papau New Guinea in their fourth game of the tournament last night.
Contributed
Dave Brown ... Jamaican international netball umpire.
Jamaican international netball umpire Dave Brown is among four Caribbean nationals officiating at the World Youth Netball Championships (WYNC), which tipped off on Monday in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Some 20 countries are participating in the competition. These include Australia, Barbados, Botswana, Cook Islands, England, Fiji, Malawi, Malaysia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Scotland, Singapore, Vanuatu Wales, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America and Jamaica.
The Sunshine Girls are one of the top-ranked teams in the championship and won their first three matches.
International umpire
Brown has been an international umpire since last year and officiated at the Caribbean Netball Association Under-16 championships in Antigua, as well as the Americas Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) senior tournament in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Brown also coaches the netball teams at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and Excelsior Community Collage, of which he is a student.
He attributes much of his success to the discipline and drive for excellence, which was further developed during his time at Excelsior Community College, where he is currently finishing up his associate degree in performing arts, drama.
"It's been a long, hard two years," said Brown of his time at Excelsior Community College (ECC). "I can't imagine that I've come to the end of it, but I've never regretted a moment. ECC is like my family and my home away from home."
The netball umpire was the beneficiary of two scholarships from Excelsior Community College, one in each year of his programme. These scholarships were granted to students who maintain a high grade point average (GPA).
"I'm also the student council representative for the Performing Arts Department and received the award for Most Outstanding Student in the Performing Arts Department 2007/2008," explained Brown.
"I attribute any success I've gained to hard work and great mentors," Brown said. "ECC Principal Dahlia Repole, has been an inspiration, she's a mother-figure to many students. Earl Buckle, vice-principal of student affairs and Janice Murray, dean of discipline, have also been very instrumental to my success at ECC."
Brown returns from the WYNC on August 20 and will depart on September 6 for Australia, to officiate a match between netball's top two club teams, the Australia Diamonds and the New Zealand Silver Ferns.
