Anna Shepherd wants her girls to hit the ground running now. Literally.
Netball’s senior national head coach is appealing to corporate Barbados for at least two treadmills as she looks to improve her team’s speed ahead of next year’s hectic and all-important season heading into the rebranded 2015 World Cup.
Shepherd made the plea following the release of the new International Netball Federation’s world rankings, which saw Barbados move one spot from ten to nine.
“The game today is based a lot on speed and if we are going to compete with the world’s best then we have to get faster on the court,” explained Shepherd.
“In terms of netball skills we’re right up there with the top teams in the world but that doesn’t mean anything if we can’t match them for speed. And that’s the sort of training all of those teams are currently undertaking.
“So right now we are in the process of upping our training programme, but we are going to need at least two treadmills because if you’re running by yourself you can only push yourself as fast as you think you can run but on a treadmill you have to try and match whatever speed it is going at,” she added.
The renewed focus on intensive training comes as part of Shepherd’s goal of cracking the top six ahead of a remodelled World Cup, which heavily favours being ranked within the first eight teams in the world under the current format.
As it stands right now, Barbados would be pooled with New Zealand and Australia – the two best teams in the sport – along with tenth-ranked Trinidad in a competition where only two teams advance from each group to the knockout stages.
The other three groups will also feature two teams ranked in the top eight as well as zone two consists of Nos. 3 and 4 as well as the 11th and 12th-ranked teams, while Nos. 5 and 6 have been pooled with the 13th and 14th-rated teams. The last pool will feature Nos. 7, 8, 15 and 16.
“Clearly we have to target teams currently ranked higher than us for competition next year, teams like [No.8] Wales who have the same number of points as us so we can continue to move up the rankings,” reasoned Shepherd.
“A lot depends on what zone we end up playing in, though we can’t have our girls focusing on that rather on just playing who is in front of us. However, we still need those games, but those additional games and travel is obviously dependent on funds so we’ll see what happens there.”
Barbados recently returned from Ireland, where they beat the world No. 11 side as well as the 13th ranked St Lucia and Botswana, rated 17 in the world.
Barbados Netball Association (BNA) president Nisha Cummings told MIDWEEK SPORT: “I’m extremely pleased, especially after the Under-21 team placed 7th at the World Youth Tournament in August. It shows we are continuing to make strides in netball.
“Right now, netball is the highest world ranked team sport in Barbados and we are the first to qualify for the Commonwealth Games,” noted Cummings.