Netball titles reside in Valley

The titles of Junior and Senior Schools’ Netball champions took a journey to institutions in the Marriaqua Valley.

The Emmanuel High Mespo and the St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua stocked up on the Junior and Senior Divisions, respectively, of the Vita Malt sponsored competition.{{more}}

But leaving the Kingstown Netball Centre last week Thursday afternoon without any silverware was the Girls’ High School, beaten finalists in both divisions.

The Girls’ High School, though, was not humiliated, as they challenged their opponents’ every stride.

An 18-18 tie in regulation time of Junior final, sent the match into over time. The Emmanuel High eventually pulled away to win 25-21.

A similar occurrence was experienced in the senior division decider. The final score read the St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua 42, Girls’ High School, 40.

And, it was the two top schools that featured in the individual awards. Kemisha Antoine of the Emmanuel High copped the prize for most goals. She sank 98 of her 121 attempts, while Nyasha Lynch of the St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua, had 140 goals registered of her 208 efforts at scoring.

The Most Valuable Junior Player of the Final was the energetic Cacica Cordice of Emmanuel. Taking the award for the Seniors was Sheldene Joseph of St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua.

The zone winners were the Georgetown Secondary School, which won both divisions of Zone A.

The Emmanuel High Mespo won Zone B of the juniors and the St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua, the seniors.

Zone C saw the West St.George taking the juniors, and St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown, the seniors.

The Buccament Bay Secondary topped Zone D of the Junior Division and the Campden Park Secondary, the seniors.

The finals heard addresses from netball and the Ministry of Education officials, as well as a representative of the St. Vincent Brewery.

Like the football competition, the netball segment was run solely by the Ministry of Education, with some input from the Physical Education Sports Teachers Association, as the officials in the Department of Physical Education and Sports, in the Ministry of Tourism, Youth and Sports, distanced themselves from all school sports in the first term.

This prompted Deputy Chief Education Officer, Luis deShong, who spoke at the Closing Ceremony, to call for an end to the impasse.

Twenty- three schools participated in the competition. Fifteen entered teams in both divisions, with four entering teams in the seniors only and four in the juniors only. (RT)