Netball seeks Changes

12

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association has been fortunate to be one of the regional teams that has gained selection to participate in the Inaugural Caribbean Games scheduled for Trinidad and Tobago during the period 12 – 19 July 2009.
As is often the case there are those who would suggest that things have not been the best for the national netball team in the recent past and that success in the upcoming event may well require a level of commitment to training that we have not seen for some time.
The netball fraternity may respond by indicating that while it recognises the decline in performance there is a commitment to do better and that the nation should pledge support for the Caribbean Games.

Backdrop
For many years this sport has been the main attraction for girls and women who considered themselves athletic oriented. At one stage netball rivalled other sports in terms of its appeal. Once a young girl entered school it was understood that if she played only one sport it would have been netball.
There are those who would argue that the sport of netball was so popular in St Vincent and the Grenadines that at the secondary school level many a ‘Games Teacher’ bypassed some students in favour of those who seemed to have had some introduction to the sport in the primary school system and who showed some proficiency. The other girls were left to their own devices when the school commenced its search for a team to participate in the annual competition. Thus the popularity of the sport may well have been its own undoing as those who were left on the sidelines stayed there, not at all anxious to even so much as attend games as a supporter or spectator.