Elite soars above the rest

The executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association will have to do some soul searching to determine where they are going wrong with the sport of Netball here.

This after Western Union Mitres failed to bring the title of the 2008 Courts OECS Netball Champion of Champions back to the shores of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

Moreso, Mitres seemed not to have the tenacity to go all the way, recognising that they carried the aspirations of the populace.

The situation is more worrying, since St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the lone country in the OECS that has a world ranking. This country is ranked twelfth, and is seen as the Netball gurus of the sub region.

Instead, Digicel Elite Strikers Sports Club of St. Lucia retained the title, when they outplayed Mitres 44-34 last week Thursday night at the Kingstown Netball Centre, in front of a nationalistic crowd. This was the St. Lucians’ third lien on the title in the four competitions in which they have participated.

The clinical Elite finished the first quarter 10-9 in the ascendency, but Mitres reversed the situation at the end of the second. Mitres led 19-18. But it was the third quarter that made the difference, as Elite sank 18 goals to Mitres’ 4.

By then it was all over, as fatigue seemed to set in and Elite’s tactics of dictating the pace of the game worked in their favour.

For Elite, Shem Maxwell scored 30 from her 38 attempts and Glatta Gabriel 14 from 25.

For Mitres, Nicole Sandy scored 18 from 27 and Shannique De Shong 16 from 20.

In the other matches on the night when the lid was put on the 2008 edition, Nagicor Capisterre Ball Stars of St. Kitts beat Courts Eagles of Antigua and Barbuda 49-28, and Cable & Wireless Aces of Dominica beat Survivors of Anguilla 61-29.

Elite was adjudged the best defending and the best attacking team.

The best centre court player was Roxanne Snyder of Elite and the best shooter was her teammate Maxwell. A goal shooter, Maxwell was ecstatic when announced as the Most Valuable Player of the championship.

Debutants Survivors, who finished sixth in the six-club championship, was named the Most Disciplined club on show.

Among the individual winners of Most Valuable Player award for each team, Delia Samuel, who played Goal Defence, copped the trophy for Elite.

De Shong secured it for Mitres. De Shong played as Goal Attack, Goal Shoot, Wing Attack and Centre, when the team required. For third place team Ball Stars, their Goal Defence Amanda French was the selection.

Fourth place team Aces’ award was snapped up by Frances Morancia, their Goal Keeper. Christine Roberts, a Centre of Eagles received her club’s MVP, with Vincentian born Shanique Roberts of Survivors who appeared in the Centre, Goal Defence, Goal Keep and Goal Attack was the obvious choice of Most Valuable Player for her club.

The championship, which was absent from the sub region’s sporting calendar for the past two years, will definitely be around in 2009 and 2010.

This affirmation was made by Elwyn Phillips, Courts OECS Public Relations Manager.

Philips, who gave some brief remarks at the closing ceremony, said that his company has committed to the sponsorship of the championship for the next two years, with the possibility of an extension. (RT)