Dalton Myers | Girls deserve their time in the sun

The Sunshine Girls have copped another medal at a major international tournament; and have once again shown the world the immense talent we have in Jamaica. In fact, what is even more impressive is that the team has managed to be successful despite the many distractions facing the administration off the court. Additionally, this was a team without one of the world's best goal shooters in captain Jhaniele Fowler-Reid.

The Sunshine Girls have participated in all editions of the new-look International Netball Federation's (INF) Fast5 Netball Series since its inception in 2012 and have so far garnered three medals: two silver and a bronze. The team was impressive and showed grit and determination in winning four of five matches in the 2018 competition's first stage before losing 33-34 to New Zealand, and this after beating them in the earlier stages by a similar margin.

THEIR ATTACK

So dominant were the Sunshine Girls in attack that they scored 169 goals (only bettered by the 176 scored by Australia) and conceded 153 goals with a GF/GA percentage of 110.5 per cent, ranking them third, behind Australia (146.7 per cent) and New Zealand (129.4 per cent). Romelda Aiken once again led the attack, shooting at 80 per cent, which is not bad, considering the fast-paced nature of the competition. Goal attack Shanice Beckford was shooting at 52 per cent, but some of those shots were high-impact shots, including two three-pointers during one of our power plays. So, while her shooting percentage could have been much higher, she took a lot of two and three-point attempts.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

There were several other positives for me. These included centre Khadija Williams' tournament-high 31 assists. I must also highlight Shamera for her 'Sterling' contribution to the team. Shamera was just superb, particularly in games that had potential to get away from us. Her sense of awareness, alertness and agility earned her the MVP award, making it the first time for a defender in Fast5 history. In fact, even though Jamaica have never won the competition, she joins an elite group that includes attackers Simone Forbes and Thristina Harwood as Sunshine Girls who have previously brought home the coveted MVP title. Sterling led the defence with an impressive table-topping eight interceptions and 14 deflections and was very disciplined, accounting for just 22 penalties in the tournament.

Remember, too, that these girls had just defeated Trinidad and Tobago in a two-match series and later 2018 Commonwealth Games champions England in a three-match series, totally outclassing both opponents. Additionally, they defeated the Silver Ferns in a pre-Commonwealth Games series in New Zealand and followed that up with a bronze medal at Gold Coast 2018. So, kudos must go to the coaches and management team for working with the players despite the many challenges.

I find it absolutely fascinating that the ladies have managed to pull together and do well every year on the court, while away from the centre circle, the administration is always courting controversy. Maybe it is the system at work, or maybe our girls deserve more credit than they get as they have withstood changes on the board, changes of presidents, resignation of coaches, and suspension of players in our version of a 'Watergate' controversy and still manage to do exceptionally well.

This is a fairly young team, so I hope that now the board of Directors of Netball Jamaica can ride on this success to keep pushing netball. I am sure that sponsorship and finances are challenges, but so is negative publicity. We have an amazing set of players who work hard both on and off the court, and they need our support. Despite our many challenges, each year, our players are offered contracts for the main professional leagues in Australia, New Zealand, and Britain. That says a lot about their ability as the resources we have locally are woefully inadequate and the support given by corporate Jamaica pales in comparison to other successful countries.

Congrats to every athlete and every member of the management and support team. The girls deserve their time in the sun.

- Dalton Myers is a sports consultant and administrator. Email feedback to daltonsmyers@gmail.com