President of the Jamaica Netball Association, Marva Bernard. - Contributed

The Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) spent in excess of $5.3 million last year towards the accommodation and transportation of its players during preparation for major international tournaments and is now calling for support in acquiring a new team bus and players' house in an effort to curtail the expenses.

Transportation accounts for the larger portion of the expense, with the cash-strapped organisation forced to fork out $4.2 million over the period September 2008 to August 2009.

With players scattered all across the island and some coming from Clarendon and St Catherine, the JNA had to find $1.9 million for the Under-21s, $1.8 million for the seniors, $264,252 for the Under-16s and $144,800 for the participants of the Under-13 nursery programme to be transported back and forth for training sessions and other commitments.

JNA president Marva Bernard summed up the situation and underlined the negative impact lack of funding has had on the body's ability to roll out some of its plans.

"We have had to cut our jacket to fit our fabric, so to speak," Bernard said. "Because we don't have a place for the girls to overnight after training and we can't allow them to take public transportation ... the one bus that we have has to do all that work and it is already too small."

Corporate Area hotel

Information gathered from several unaudited financial documents also showed that for the same period, the JNA had to pay out just over $1 million to house its players from the Under-16 and Under-21 squads at a Corporate Area hotel just prior to and during their respective international assignments, namely the Jean Pierre Caribbean Championships and the World Youth Netball Championships, respectively.

The figures do not include the $128,235 that it cost to stage pre-camps for both teams.

It cost the JNA $854,754 in housing expenses for the Under-21 squad and $231,937 for the Under-16 girls.

The figures for the accommodation of the senior Sunshine Girls, who were recently in camp for the World Netball Series and the National Commercial Bank Sunshine Series, were not available up to press time.

Bernard admitted that despite their best efforts and the support they receive from several state and private bodies, the organisation is struggling to come to terms with having to pay these amounts and is looking to cut back on costs.

"Just imagine how much less our accommodation and transportation costs would be if we had our own team house and a brand-new shiny yellow bus that could hold all our squads," she observed.

"The truth is that we have to be paying money that we really don't have into these areas and with the other commitments that we have, this is proving to be something that we can well do without. We have a lot of plans and these expenses make them a lot more challenging to get off the ground," she added.

In 1999, a Coaster bus was handed over to the JNA as a gift from long-time sponsor Cable and Wireless - now LIME. However, that vehicle is now in need of repairs and, incidentally, cost the association more than $350,000 over the past year in repair cost.