Sunshine Girls co-coach appeals for more sponsorship

With the country preparing for next month's quadrangular series against Malawi, Fiji and hosts New Zealand as well as the Commonwealth Games in April, Sunshine Girls co-coach Marvette Anderson is appealing for more sponsorship support. Citing the situation in the top netball countries New Zealand, Australia and England where netballers are professionals, Anderson bemoaned the Jamaican situation where players have to share work and school responsibilities with training.

According to her, the players would be better prepared if they could be freed from those obligations to focus on netball. “I would love for the players to put up everything-else and just focus on netball. We have persons who go from work to training; from school to training; some have families so it’s really hard on the players,” noted Anderson.

Meanwhile, Anderson, who also coaches Queen's School the high school programme, expressed concern for the next generation of netballers. According to her, the players are talented but seem to lack motivation.

”I just think that it’s the different distractions around. We are competing with different things for their attention so I think we need to get parents and other stakeholders involved to see how best we can get these students to stay ahead of what is happening,” said Anderson who was speaking on Hitz 92 FM's Girls Sports Club on Friday.