By Iva Wharton
There has been some improvement in Netball since Guyana’s participation in the International Federation of Netball Associations’ (IFNA) tournament in Trinidad earlier this year. That is according to National Netball Coach Lavern Fraser-Thomas.
Thomas and a team of under-23 players returned yesterday from the Tobago Quadrangular Netball Series as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The competition started on December 5th.
“I can say that the two defences that participated in the IFNA championship played a lot better and it was because of their hard work that our scores were not as bad, they were able to control at some point. Over the years I have been of the opinion that a lot of times our centre court and shooters are really the areas that are weakest. Because we had Tasnica Lovell, she played centre and also participated in the IFNA tournament, she really worked hard under a lot of constraints because she was injured. But lots of times even the defences were working hard and were able to make interceptions, while other times we were unable to get it to our shooters or when the shooters got it we were unable to capitalize on it by scoring”.
Height, she said, was not a problem this time especially in the areas where it mattered which was in the centre.
“On the other hand I could definitely say that the other teams played what we could call air balls which they were comfortable with. But that is one of the things I was unable to get some of the members of the Guyana team to adjust to instead of putting the ball up to use other passes like the bounce, chest and even the underarm passes”.
Guyana’s first game against host Tobago, Fraser-Thomas said, was the first time that the girls ran a full court together as a team. That, she said, was because of the limited practice sessions they had prior to leaving. Practice sessions, she said, were conducted on the Square of the Revolution as the Gymnasium and outdoor court at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall were not available.
Fraser-Thomas however said despite Guyana’s performance the tournament was a learning experience for the players.
“Guyana was invited to give our young players here an opportunity to play competitively netball with their peers, since that is a very minimal opportunity afforded to us here in Guyana. But all in all, I think the girls would have other than enjoying the opportunity to play against their peers benefited a great lot and the Guyana Netball Association certainly hopes that the group can stay together and maybe continue working so that another call like this does not catch us on the wrong footing”.
Guyana competed against host Tobago, Grenada and St. Vincent, with St. Vincent edging out Tobago to win the tournament.
