TT Under-21 netballers reliant on senior trio

A 12-member team will represent TT at the Youth Championships from July 8-16. TT will play in Group D alongside England, Fiji, Grenada and Wales. At a media conference at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo yesterday, John-Davis said the team has not been playing many warmup matches, but says the players are training hard.

“It is pretty hard to judge an Under-21 team, because you don’t have matches where you could compare yourself and we won’t able to have any warm up games to see where we are. But I know that the girls have worked really hard, and they try to compare themselves to senior players to see what level they are at. I think we have a pretty good chance.” The Under-21 netballers will be led by co-captains Aniecia Baptiste and Janeisha Cassimy. The team will look towards Baptiste, Shernese Seemungal and Tahirah Hollingsworth.

The three players have been included in the national women’s team for a three-match series against Barbados, starting at the National Cycling Centre in Couva, tomorrow.

John-Davis says the knowledge they learn with the women’s team will benefit the entire team. “Whatever they (national senior trio) learn at the tournament, they should be able to take it, learn from it, move forward and share the experience with the other players.” The Under-21 team will have a hectic schedule leading up to the Youth Championships.

A camp in Chaguaramas from Sunday to June 14, will be followed by another 10- day camp in England which will include a practice match against the England Under-19 team.

Bridget Adams, first vice-president of the TT Netball Association with responsibility for technical development, is confident in the team’s chances.

“I expect that they will do well because they have been training for more than a year. They went to Grenada to measure their level. They have also been camping, they have been travelling throughout Trinidad and Tobago playing matches,” said the former national star.

TT SQUAD: Aniecia Baptiste - Blazers Sports Club (Tobago)/UWI, Janeisha Cassimy - Police Sports Club, Tiana Dillon - Police Sports Club/UWI, Cheynelle Dolland - Manzanilla Netballers/ UWI, Faith Hagley - Horizon Sports and Cultural Club/UTT, Tahirah Hollingsworth - Police Sports Club, Canice Jacobs - Jabloteh Sports and Cultural Club, Saniya Jarvis - Cardinals Netball Club/UWI, Jeresia Mc Eachrane - Police Netball Team (Tobago)/UWI, Shantel Seemungal - Manzanilla Netballers/ UTT, Shernese Seemungal - Manzanilla Netballers/ UTT, Afiya Vincent - Police Sports Club/UWI.

RESERVES: Tia Bruno - Police Sports Club, Nicolette Osbourne - UWI Netball Team.

TECHNICAL TEAM: Rhonda John-Davis (coach), Kemba Duncan (assistant coach), Vanessa Forde (manager), Wayne Samuel (trainer), Aqiyla Gomez (physical therapist), Amanda Johnson (sport psychologist), Kerwin Marcelle (massage therapist).