Sunshine Girls shine brightly in 2023

THE PAST year could and maybe should be termed fantastic for the country’s senior netballers with outstanding individual and team performances throughout.

The Sunshine Girls participated in three overseas tournaments, with their biggest performance coming at the 16th staging of the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Jhaniele Fowler-led team finished third to pick up the bronze medal, defeating New Zealand 52-45 in a third-place playoff.

An under-strengthed team participated later in the Fast5 tournament in New Zealand, finishing fifth.

The team started well, shocking Australia, the eventual champions, 38-36. They then made it two from two with a 41-37 win over Malawi.

However, they suffered defeat in their next three matches to end the preliminary round on four points.

FIFTH PLACE FINISH

In the fifth-place playoff they, again, defeated Malawi, 36-31. While on the face of it, the result may have seemed a disappointment, it was an improvement after a sixth-place finish in 2022 where they only tasted defeat throughout the tournament.

On another overseas assignment, a new-looked team, comprising 15 of the country’s future stars, was selected to participate at the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games in San Salvador, El Salvador.

It was a historic moment, marking the first time netball was being contested at the Games. The Sunshine Girls were dominant.

They won the gold medal, blowing away Trinidad and Tobago 50-36 in the final, having got there courtesy of solely big victories.

They were led by excellent shooting from goal-shooter Simone Gordon, who scored 41 points from 43 attempts in the final.

Individually, the Jamaicans also had a good 2023, with six of the country’s Sunshine Girls parading their skills in the high-level Suncorp Super Netball League (SNL) in Australia.

Three Jamaicans were involved in the final between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and the New South Wales Swifts.

In that final, the Thunderbirds, featuring Shameera Sterling and Latanya Wilson, defeated the New South Wales Swifts 60-59, which had returning Sunshine Girl, Romelda Aiken-George, as their starting goal shooter. Sterling was named the game’s most valuable player.

There were more accolades for Sterling, who was SNL’s player of the year, becoming the second Jamaican to do so. Fowler had earned the award five times in a row from 2018 to 2022.

In addition, Sterling along with Wilson and wing defence, Jodi Ann Ward, who represented the Collingwood Magpies were selected to the Suncorp team of the year.

With the year coming to a close, Sunshine Girl, Shanice Beckford, earned a contract to join the Perth-based West Coast Fever, where she will play alongside Fowler and Kadie-Ann Dehaney.

Dehaney previously played for the Sunshine Coast Lightening.

Going into 2024, the senior team will have a new coach with long-time boss, Connie Francis, who also guided the team to a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, stepped down from that post.