Barbados will be aiming to finish in the top three when the junior badminton team takes to the courts next week at the 2013 CAREBACO Regional Championships to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The juniors narrowly missed out on a medal position last year in the team competition in the Dominican Republic, placing fourth, but manager Carolyn Vaughn is confident that the Under-19 team has the ability to get a medal this year.
The team has been hard at work with coach Shakiera Waithe and is ready for the competition.
In the individual tournament, Vaughn also believed that the Under-11 age group of Kayla Miller, Mackenzie Howard, and brothers Keenan and Dominick Scantlebury, will do extremely well, along with the current Under-15 national triple champion Shae Martin.
Amanda Haywood is another medal hopeful as she won gold as well as two silver medals at the last championships.
Vaughn added her expectations were twofold, as she was also focusing on developing the younger players because many of them were making their debut at the regional level.
“We want to see where they progressed, so that on our return, we can then go from there and see best how we can take them to the next level,” she said.
The team leaves on Saturday and will know the group stage opponents when the draws are done upon arrival.
Also competing in the junior division will be Suriname, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent, Jamaica, Guatemala and the United States. These countries will also be represented in the senior category in addition to players from Italy and France as the tournament has been sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation.
Unfortunately, the senior team will not have the opportunity to improve on the bronze medal earned last year in the Dominican Republic as the team competition was cancelled by the CAREBACO organizers due to a lack of entries.
The players will, however, still compete in the individual tournament which will include several international players. They will have all to play for as this tournament serves as the second qualifier for consideration to the Commonwealth Games next year in Glasgow, Scotland.
The seniors are scheduled to leave September 9.
The team
Juniors
Under-11: Kayla Miller, Mackenzie Howard, Keenan Scantlebury, Dominick Scantlebury; Under-13: Nicholas Howard, Joshua Archer, Shomari Smith, Aren Cupples; Under-15: Shae Martin, Gavin Robinson, Kyle Wood, Nicholas Sobers, Amanda Haywood; Under-17: Daniel Duncan, Jaleel Arthur, Onika Moe; Under-19: Sabeel Foster, Cory Fanus, D’Andre Thorpe, Derion Hurley
Seniors: Mariama Eastmond, Shari Hope, Tamisha Williams, Monyata Riviera, Bradley Pilgrim, Andre Padmore, Dakiel Thorpe, Jade Browne
Manager/coach: Carolyn Vaughn; Coach: Shakeira Waithe. (PR)
