The invitations are coming and the Barbados Netball Association (BNA) will have to raise in excess of $100 000 to send the senior national netball team to overseas tournaments next year.
The biggest expense will be for the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore from July 3 to 10, and Barbados have also been invited to a tri-series with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in Kingston in April.
Barbados knocked off Cook Islands and Trinidad, two higher ranked teams, to finish seventh at the Commonwealth Games earlier this month, and it has opened up more opportunities, said BNA president Octavia Gibson.
“In speaking with the Jamaican [Netball Association] president, she said the better you play, the more invitations would come. People will want to play you, so they will be willing to assist you financially,” Gibson said.
“The more exposure we get to international games will benefit not only the senior team, but the under-21s as well.”
Gibson said they had to make a tough decision and turn down an invitation to Singapore in December this year for the Six Nations tournament.
“We would be looking for $100 000 now and $100 000 in July next year. While the competition is good, we didn’t think it would be prudent,” Gibson said.
But Barbados needs to keep playing at that level to improve or maintain the ranking.
The president said that when she attends the International Federation of Netball Association meeting next month, she would open talks with other nations to see what benefits it could bring to the local game.
They might also look at the South Africa model.
“In 2006, South Africa had a plan to get to sixth in the world and they are there now. They invited us and paid for the transportation, accommodation and meals. We just had to find the airfare.”
Gibson said they could also invite teams to Barbados, but with a debt of $27 000 hanging over their head – owed to Gymnasiums Limited from last year – they didn’t want to build on that.
They have already begun to help themselves and have plans to stage a major dinner next year.
“Without any funds we won’t be able to do anything, and we have started a project called Road To Singapore.
“It has a lot of phases and we hope we can get at least half of the funds we need through sponsorship and we can make up the rest of funding that is available to get the team to Jamaica as well as the World Championships,” Gibson said.
“We started low-keyed, but when the team comes back we are really going to launch it.”
Of the team’s performance in Delhi, India, Gibson was very pleased.
“I thought it was excellent. I was gratified in that we overcame two countries that were higher ranked than we were.
“I know the plan was to take them out in increments, and we came out seventh, which is the highest position for the BNA at the Commonwealth Games.
“I am also waiting [until] the end of this month to see what our world ranking will look like,” she said.
She thanked the Barbados Olympic Association for sponsoring a ten-day training camp in Crawley, England, which allowed the team to get match preparation and a feel for the wooden courts after playing here on concrete.