National netball coach pleased with Grenada outing

Head coach of the senior St Vincent and the Grenadines netball team Thelma Foster says she is pleased with her team’s showing in their tri-nation series last weekend in Grenada.

Foster was in charge a team of nine players who engaged the host country and St Lucia in two matches each at the Tanteen Netball Complex, from Friday to Sunday last.

Assessing her team’s showing in the series, Foster said, “It was a good for us, seeing that we have not played at that level for a long time… It was also good especially for the new players.”

Among the team were Suzette Jordon and Jose- Ann Antoine, who were getting their first taste of senior representation.

The result showed St Vincent and the Grenadines winning one match and losing one, against both opponents.

St Vincent and the Grenadines had the better of Grenada 62-54 in their first outing. In their second, the Vincentians were beaten 58-42 by St Lucia.

The tables were reversed in the second round of matches, as the Vincentians took revenge against St Lucia, winning 51-46; but were unable to hold on to an early lead, when they met Grenada in their final encounter Sunday night.

The final result score was Grenada 53, St Vincent and the Grenadines 52.

Evaluating the matches, Foster commented, “We did not know much about Grenada and St Lucia at the senior level, because we have not played for a long time, so we just went there and played.”

But for Foster, being able to have international matches under the team’s belt was the most important factor for St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Foster was in high praise of president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association Doris Mc Intosh, and the presidents of Grenada and St Lucia associations, for putting together the tri-nation series.

Foster said the exercise was mostly beneficial to St Vincent and the Grenadines, which is without a ranking, while St Lucia sits at number 18 and Grenada 23.

The last occasion on which SVG’s senior netball outfit was involved in a competitive match was back in 2010, at the America Federation of Netball Association (AFNA) tournament in St Lucia.

The Vincentians therefore had fallen off the radar on the International Netball Federation (INF) rankings, which is currently composed of 39 countries.

St Vincent and the Grenadines now has to play another four matches in the AFNA Qualifiers in Barbados in August, to get the minimum eight matches in, to get back a world ranking.

Foster revealed that her charges will be restarting practice next month, in preparation for the next outing.

The national senior netball team head coach is therefore appealing to all netballers who are called up for possible selection to make themselves available.(RT)