Club netball to return soon

President of Netball Jamaica (NJ), Tricia Robinson says she is now very optimistic that the major, intermediate and minor league competitions will return very soon.

Robinson told STAR Sports that her association has been working assiduously with the Government in order to get approvals granted for the safe return of the sport. It is understood that NJ has set a start date for the resumption of the leagues by the end of this month.

The championships were scheduled to start in early 2020, but had to be cancelled because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are still awaiting our approval of leagues. It is a shorter version of what we normally do. The leagues, as proposed just now, will be held over eight weeks. Like all other sports, netballers are anxious to return to the court to play," said Robinson.

"The world is normalising and it is certainly an activity that will bring joy to the participants and their supporters, because it is well over 15 months now that we have had any netball competitions," she said.

Robinson underscored that they have already received sponsorship for these competitions, which usually attract some of the island's best young players. She also noted that these leagues will be played without spectators as part of the protocols which they have submitted to the Government.

"These leagues will involve netballers at every level. We are happy so far with the sponsor that has come on board to support us, and so we should be doing the launch soon, and we are looking forward to that," she said.

Annette Daley, one of the coaches at The Mico University College, said she is delighted that NJ has now set out a plan for the restart of these competitions, pointing out that the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the development of the sport in Jamaica.

"It is a good move for netball, because you find that the younger netballers have not been honing their skills," said Daley.

"There has been no schoolgirl and club netball, and you find that the development of the skill set has been hindered over this time frame, and this will ultimately affect the national programme," she said.