Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

President of the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA), Marva Bernard, said on Friday the Sunshine Girls would be pushing for a strong showing in their respective home series against world champions Australia and New Zealand next month.

"Winning these series will certainly help our ratings and our rankings," said Bernard in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner. "We are definitely going out there to win these series against these top teams, because every time we take the court we are always looking to improve our ranking."

The Connie Francis-coached team will oppose Australia on October 17 and 18 and New Zealand on the 20 and 22 at the National Indoor Sports Complex.

The Jamaicans, who are ranked fourth in the world, edged England 53-52 to capture the bronze medal at the 2007 World Netball Championships in Auckland, New Zealand.

However, based on a revised ranking system, they were rated fourth in the world on the basis of an earlier 3-0 loss to England in a practice series.

"These series are very important because we don't get a chance to play competitive netball at the highest level as often as we would like to," Bernard said.

The JNA has also included five members of the Under-21 team which captured the bronze medal at the World Youth Netball Championships in the Cook Islands last month, and according to Bernard, she is confident that they can give a good account of themselves.

Still fresh

"I think that now is the best time to bring them into the senior team because we don't want to lose them to anything else, especially since they are still fresh from the World Youth Championships," said Bernard.

The under-21 players are Sasha-Gay Lynch, Malysha Kelly, Crystal Gordon, Sateva Taylor and Vanessa Walker.

"I don't believe that we in Jamaica have a problem with development," she said. According to Bernard, the problem is one of resources. The JNA is just not able to play highly competitive netball as often as they would like to do at the highest level.

Bernard added that they have already secured three major sponsors for the series and they are still in negotiation with three others.

"I must thank our sponsors who are going to make this possible - Burger King, Jamaica Public Service and Supreme Ventures - because they are going to get a chance to see the girls playing at home and it is not very often that we can do this," she said.

Indoor practice

As part of the preparation for both series, Bernard noted that the girls will be practising in the National Indoor Sports Complex, so that they can get accustomed to the wooden floor.

"We are going to go indoors from now, leading into October, so that we get a chance to practise on the wooden floor," Bernard said.

The JNA also released the names of the players who will represent Sunshine Girls at World Series Fast Net Championships, which will be held in Manchester, England, from October 9-11. They are Simone Forbes (captain), Romelda Aiken, Crystal Gordon, Vanessa Walker, Nadine Bryan, Nichala Gibson, Sasher-Gaye Henry, Sateva Taylor, Nicole Aiken, Althea Byfield, Malysha Kelly and Paula Thompson.

The weeklong international netball series will culminate in a banquet celebrating 50 years of netball at which Prime Minister Bruce Golding will be the guest speaker. The function is scheduled for The Pegasus Hotel on October 23.