Netball seeks Changes

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Not so very long ago the netball fraternity in the state celebrated its 50th anniversary in grand style. The organisation’s annual tournament on that occasion featured a remarkable 52 teams. Since attaining those heights the organisation seems to have been on a downward spiral almost uncontrollably.
Where once we held our position in the Caribbean among the top three teams playing the game suddenly Barbados bypassed us. On the first occasion that the Bajans defeated us at the regional competition we considered it a shock never to be repeated.
That was our mistake. We soon found out that it was difficult to beat the Bajans as our game had declined. The Bajans got the measure of us.
St Vincent and the Grenadines recently found itself being defeated by once lowly ranked St Kitts, at the regional level, a feat that is still bothersome to many who have followed the fortunes of the local team.
When the Under 23 netball competition was instituted among the countries of the OECS, St Vincent and the Grenadines was so dominant that one wondered whether we would ever be truly challenged. All of that has changed. It is now a major challenge for our girls to dominate the game in the sub region, as was the case in previous years.
Some may say that the others have grown in the sport while others would emphatically state that our game has declined.
At the local level the interest does not appear to be in the game as was the case several years ago.
At the school level children appear far more interested in playing video games or playing with their cell phones than taking to the courts to play netball. In some cases the girls seem to take greater interest in the attraction that they pose to young and older boys than to playing sport, choosing instead to engage in sexual activity far too early in life.