Excelsior taking every AFNA game seriously

Christopher Smart, coach of national netball champions Excelsior High School, said they are very confident ahead of this weekend's start of the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Champion of Champions High Schools Netball Tournament.

The championships is set to begin on Sunday at the Leila Robinson Courts with four matches.

Smart told STAR Sports that they have prepared well for the championships, and his girls are looking forward to giving a good account of themselves in front of their home fans.

"I think that we are about 95 per cent prepared because we are just coming out of a two-week camp and we have also played a couple of games against the top business house teams," said Smart.

"We are expecting to see our local counterpart Holmwood, because they will be very strong for the competition, and I expect them to do very well," he said.

"We are also looking at Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados' groups because those countries come with pedigree when it comes to netball talents. However, we are not leaving anything to chance and we will be taking every game very seriously," Smart added.

Meanwhile, Kyla Keith-Wilson, coach of Scarborough Secondary from Trinidad and Tobago, said she is also confident that her charges will do well at the championships.

"We are ready for it because we have been putting in work, so I expect my girls to do extremely well," said Keith-Wilson.

"We are excited to come to the tournament because this is something new and something that can expose the girls to a higher level of play and competing with other schools in the region," said Keith-Wilson.

Holmwood have been drawn in Pool A alongside Dominica State College (Dominica), Christchurch Foundation (Barbados), Scarb-orough Secondary (Trinidad & Tobago) and Micoud Secondary (St Lucia).

Excelsior will compete in Pool B with Toco Secondary (Trinidad and Tobago), Springer Memorial (Barbados), Soufriere Secondary (St Lucia), and Anglican High (Grenada). The competition will be in a round-robin format within the pools, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the semi-finals of the competition.