Barbados are one of the favourites to win the 2011 Caribbean Netball Association’s Jean Pierre Under-16 Netball Tournament with defending champions Jamaica not attending the April 7 to 16 event in St Kitts.
The last time the tournament was played in St Kitts, Barbados, who were coached by Sonia Banfield, won the overall title, and coach Julie Phillips is quietly optimistic.
“I am thinking very positive,” Phillips told NATIONSPORT in a recent interview.
“If the girls play as we have been practising, Barbados will come out on top.
“The pressure is there for me as if Jamaica was coming. If we are going into the tournament thinking Jamaica is not there, we have been coming second all the time and it is a rite of passage to come first, I would be fooling myself and them,” Phillips said.
“I am playing each game as if Jamaica was there.”
Barbados have placed second behind Jamaica for the past two years and Trinidad and Tobago were third, but Phillips isn’t discounting any team. She noted that because it was an age-group competition, the quality of teams could fluctuate from year to year.
“I can’t say Trinidad would be the biggest challenge. I see every country as my biggest challenge,” she added.
The Barbados team has five returning players – captain Tyniesha Rowe, vice-captain Shanice Wharton, Sade Sargeant, Nekela Jordan and Sheniqua Thomas – while Makalea Rudder and Tia Jones were part of the training squad last year.
Phillips said practice sessions had been going well, but she had some concerns about the shooting and would be working on that.
“We will be concentrating on the overall team play, hoping by the time the tournament gets here they will be peaking at that point. At the last two practice sessions we have been putting a lot of emphasis on passing into the shooter, so I have been trying to fine-tune this area.”
