2007 a year of challenges in sport Part II

Netball
Netball has not enjoyed the best of years. The major local competitions have been held but the attendance continues to be a source of bother to the leadership of the organisation.
There was an outside chance of this country participating in the World Championships which were held in New Zealand as a result of the absence of one of the qualified teams. However the organisation did not have the resources needed to engage in the event.
The national Under 23 team faltered badly in the annual ECCB Tournament, giving what many consider this country’s worst performance since the competition began several years ago. The defeat was all the more painful given that St Vincent and the Grenadines has been the winner of this particular Tournament more than any other team in the OECS.
There seems an urgent need to revisit the fundamentals of the organisation of the sport. The interest appears to be waning and the answers to the many questions that subsequently arise can only be answered by deliberate research.
The NOC has agreed to work with the netball fraternity to assist in ascertaining where the problems exist and to fashion appropriate strategies to combat them.
The netball association is scheduled to play host to the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Tournament later this year and would have to work diligently to develop a team that could challenge for top honours.

Squash
Squash has had another relatively good year with Shane Slater once more being the head honcho, in a manner of speaking. There is little doubt that at the level of the OECS St Vincent and the Grenadines seems ahead of the pack. This appears to be the case in terms of organisation and administration as well as development strategy.