Big surprise in n-ball squad

THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Netball Association has short-listed 16 players, from which the Calypso Girls team will be selected for July’s 11th World Netball Championships in Jamaica.

There is one major surprise among the 16 in Afeisha Noel, the Mucurapo Junior Secondary goal-shoot, according to reports. The 17-year-old Noel has been plucked from the Phyllis Pierre-Walker Intermediate Two Division. Another mild surprise is the selection of ex-Defence Force netballer Rhonda John who, it is understood, resides abroad and only recently returned home on a short vacation.

The TTNA officials ran into a “player boycott” of sorts earlier this year when several top players stayed away from training sessions, and the association failed to meet the International Federation of Netball Associations’ March 31 deadline and were later forced to ask for an extension. Things improved tremendously when Defence Force’s Veronica McDonald was made national coach, taking over from Grace Parkinson-Griffith who resigned the post. TTNA president Martha Archer and secretary Beverly-Ann Cruickshank are the delegates, while McDonald will have Althea McCollin as her deputy. Manageress of the team is still to be decided, but National Flour Mills Corporate Communications Ma-nager Donna Cox, the TTNA 1st vice-president, is a front-runner for the position.

Trinidad and Tobago slipped to eighth position at the last World Championships in New Zealand, behind champions Australia, the hosts Kiwis, Jamaica, England, South Africa, Fiji and the Cook Islands. The final 12-member Calypso Girls netball squad is expected to be announced on May 31. Seven members of the national team who finished runners-up to St Vincent at the Caribbean Netball Association Championships in Kingstown have retained their place.

The squad: Shoots — Anastascia Wilson, Rhonda John (Defence Force), Afeisha Noel (Mucurapo Jnr Secondary), Simone Morgan (Mucurapo Ex-Pupils), Janelle Barker (Arima United); Centre court — Carlette Nurse, Stacey Sparks (Defence Force), Simone Bowen-Sandy (Mucurapo Ex-Pupils), Lystra Solomon, Monica Maule (Police), Tricia Liverpool (Soul City); Defence — Nina Grant, Glenis Hall (Mucurapo Ex-Pupils), Sojourner “Suzy” Hyles, (Defence Force), Anika La Roche, Denesha Moses.