Contributed
Charmaine Wright (right), marketing manager, customer services, National Commercial Bank, and Jamaica Netball Association president, Marva Bernard (centre), greet New Zealand's captain Casey Williams upon the team's arrival in the island for the Sunshine Series.
Following the Sunshine Girls' victories over Australia and New Zealand recently, Molly Rhone, president of the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA), believes that the Jamaicans will be a force to be reckoned with for the gold medal at next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.
Even though the Sunshine Girls are still ranked at number four in the world, they are expected to figure prominently at the Games and Rhone stated that they could go all the way.
"I think that they have a really great chance of winning the Commonwealth Games," said Rhone, who is a former president of the Jamaica Netball Association.
The Sunshine Girls finished fourth at the last Commonwealth Games, which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 2006.
Jamaica battled to a 56-55 victory over world number one-ranked Australia to avenge the 51-53 defeat they had suffered earlier and, in the process, levelled their two-match series.
They then repeated the sequence against world number two New Zealand the following Thursday (October 22), winning the closing match 53-50 to level that two-game series, after being beaten 56-61 in their opening match.
Rhone cautioned though that the Jamaicans must maintain the high level of intensity in order to continue improving their performances.
"The four teams at the top are very good but I think the Sunshine Girls are improving, as you can see," she said.
"They are keeping up with the two top teams by winning one game off each one and what they have to do is stay focused and keep training hard and the results may be different when they get to the championships."
Third term
Rhone, who is serving her third term as the president of IFNA, pointed out that fitness is a key factor to any potential success.
"I think the team needs to remain fit because as you saw from both series, the results could have gone their way and had they won these games, the rankings would have certainly been changed," Rhone pointed out.
"The other teams have seen what the Sunshine Girls are capable of doing and so they will be training very hard to improve their game."
She also expressed the wish to see more teams challenging for the top rankings.
"This is what we want to see at the international level. We want to see several more teams like Jamaica getting equal to the task."
-R.B.
Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
As fans piled into the National Indoor Sports Centre in support of Jamaica's senior netball team during the recent National Commercial Bank (NCB) Sunshine Series, which featured world powers Australia and New Zealand, it became clear that there was a new wave of enthusiasm among local sports fans.
Jamaica's performance in the series raised a few eyebrows with impressive victories over their more celebrated rivals and guaranteed a positive return on the investment of major sponsor NCB - celebrating their second year with the series.
Charmaine Wright, NCB's marketing manager for customer services, was proud of the company's facilitation of top-class netball for the Jamaican sporting audience.
Phenomenal success
"The NCB Sunshine Series was a phenomenal success. Not only were we able to bring world-class netball here, but we enabled thousands of Jamaicans the opportunity cheer the Sunshine Girls on to victory at the National Indoor Sports Centre," said Wright.
"We were able to once again be a part of showcasing the fact that we produce some of the finest athletes in the world."
Wright, a self-professed sporting enthusiast, is hoping that the sport will benefit from the company's injection of support and realise its potential atop the local sporting landscape.
Said Wright: "I would love to see netball reach to the levels of track and field and football, where we know the seats will be filled to capacity for netball matches.
"Currently, the sport faces a challenge in regularly attracting the level of sponsorship and crowd support that it needs to be more highly regarded. It is my hope that NCB's sponsorship of the NCB Sunshine Series will indicate to other sponsors that netball is a viable investment."
Sponsorship
She added: "I believe our sponsorship of the NCB Sunshine Series has raised both interest in the game and showcased netball as a sport that has a dedicated and enthusiastic following."
Wright, while explaining that it was still too early to start discussing possibilities for next year's staging, went on to share her proudest memories from the four-match series in which Jamaica shared the respective two-match series one-all with both Australia, the world's number one and New Zealand, number two.
"Nothing can compare to seeing the Sunshine Girls take on and beat the top-two teams in the world. It was a phenomenal experience on a personal and professional level.
"One of the proudest moments in my career is when Nadine Bryan indicated that one of the reasons that they fought so hard in the final match was because the team wanted to win for NCB. The Sunshine Girls are not only outstanding athletes, they are wonderful people," Wright noted.
"We already know that a number of the objectives that were set for NCB Sunshine Series have already been met. We have far exceeded the targets we set for publicity, thanks in part to the coverage in The Gleaner and other media houses."