What's up with OB? - Former coach spotted training Sunshine Girls

Former national coach Oberon Pitterson-Nattie was last Friday spotted by STAR Sports putting the Sunshine Girls through their paces during training at the National Indoor Sports Centre ahead of their three-test series against Barbados, starting next week.

Head coach Jermaine Allison-McCracken stood at one end of the court, while Pitterson-Nattie was observed giving instructions to the players at the other end.

Allison-McCracken, who has made no bones about who is in charge, recently sending home three players for what Netball Jamaica described as "inappropriate behaviour", was at first indecisive when quizzed about Pitterson-Nattie's presence.

Asked whether Pitterson-Nattie was now a member of the coaching staff, Allison-McCracken first queried whether Communications Director Wayne Lewis was contacted by STAR Sports. She afterwards said Pitterson-Nattie was there as part of the selection committee, a development which she was unaware of.

UNAWARE OF SELECTION

"I didn't know that she was on the selection committee until the selection committee turned up and she was on it," she explained.

"She is not coaching but she is a coach, and you know, I am not saying that I am the only person that can say things in that arena. It is up to me if I want to take on board what somebody else says," she added, defending her status as head coach.

Pitterson-Nattie, a former national player, led the Sunshine Girls to a fourth-place finish at the 2011 World Championships in Singapore.

She was replaced by Mineth Reynolds in 2014, after failing to agree new terms with Netball Jamaica.

Pitterson-Nattie is the current coach of Grenada's Under-21 team, who are currently preparing for this year's World Youth Championships in Botswana.

Efforts to contact Netball Jamaica Paula Daley-Morris and Lewis to ascertain whether it was the norm for selectors to conduct training sessions were futile. Calls to their mobiles went answered.