By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Barbuda will not compete in this year’s Jean Pierre Regional Under-16 Netball Tournament slated to run from March 24 to April 3 in Dominica.
This was revealed by President of the Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association (ABNA) and former national goal shoot, Karen Joseph, who said that although the tournament does not fall within the scope of the national association, she had made enquiries as whether the Ministry of Sports would be fielding a team.
“The under-16 is normally organised by the Ministry of Sports and I had spoken to a certain individual about it sometime last year and I haven’t heard anything else again. It is sad and, as I said to my executive last week in a meeting, I think we need to have a close synergy with the Ministry of Sports because the foundation of netball has to start with the youths and, until we get that … we are going to still be lagging behind,” she said.
Antigua and Barbuda competed in the last instalment of the regional tournament when the country hosted the event back in 2019 at the YMCA Sports Complex.
Joseph said that although she understands that lack of preparation may have been a deciding factor, young players must be afforded all opportunities to compete in high-level tournaments.
“It’s a case where, going forward, it just needs to be done because that’s the grassroots for netball. We have to work with the Ministry of Sports because most of the sports like the under-16s come from the Ministry of Sports, under the schools’ programme. It’s a trickle-down effect because it’s a feeding of the national squad from the under-16, to the under-23, to seniors and we’re lacking the foundation from that area,” the netball boss said.
The Jean Pierre Regional Under-16 Netball Tournament is staged annually by the Caribbean Netball Association (CNA). T
his is the first time the tournament is being held in Dominica.