Netballers blank training

TRINIDAD and Tobago netball is in turmoil again.

Major problem facing the Trinidad and Tobago Netball Association is there is no Calypso Girls Netballers squad currently in training. This shocking development with the 11th edition of the World Netball Championships due in July. According to an informant, the TTNA are still planning to scrape together 12 players to present as Trinidad and Tobago representatives at the championships in Jamaica.

This will prevent the country from being fined and/or banned. The TTNA are also hoping to access funds from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs to send the hastily assembled team to the World Championships. Already the TTNA have missed the March 31 deadline date for sending their final team to the organising committee in Jamaica. At their March 29 annual general meeting, there was a TTNA administrative change with Tobagonian Martha Archer returning to the presidency, with outgoing president Naomi Regis-Gilkes now the new treasurer. At that AGM, national coach Grace Parkinson-Griffith handed in her resignation, allegedly citing personal reasons. But even before Parkinson-Griffith quit, players were not turning up for training sessions.

According to Pamela Cumberbatch, the previous TTNA secretary, only five and on very rare occasions eight players turned up for training, when a team at championships must comprise 12 players. The new TTNA administration are banking on brokering an agreement with the World Netball Championships Organising Committee to accept a late entry. They are now in the process of shopping around for a coach. Information is that  the name of the new coach is to be announced today, and another attempt will be made to interest players to come out for training sessions.

The International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) slapped a one-year ban on Trinidad and Tobago in 1990 for similarly missing a deadline to send a team to Karlsrhue, Germany, without reasonable excuse, after giving firm assurances they will be attending that tournament. Since becoming the only country, apart from perennial champions Australia and New Zealand, to win the world title, which they shared when the tournament was held here in 1979, the sport has been in a downward spiral. The Calypso Girls Netballers entered the 10th World Netball Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1999 ranked sixth, but at the end of that tournament had slipped to eighth, surpassed by Fiji who now fill that spot. The Fijians were ranked No. 28 before the start of the tournament.

Current IFNA rankings: 1. Australia; 2. New Zealand; 3. England; 4. Jamaica; 5. South Africa; 6. Fiji; 7. Cook Islands; 8. Trinidad and Tobago; 9. Samoa; 10. Barbados; 11. Maklawi; 12. Singapore; 13. Canada; 14. Wales; 15. United States; 16. Northern Ireland; 17. Zambia; 18. Papua New Guinea; 19. Malaysia; 20. Scotland; 21. Sri Lanka; 22. Tonga; 23. Cayman Islands; 24. Hong Kong; 25. Niue; 26. Vanuatu.