Lisa Smith has a vision that Antigua and Barbuda netball can one day be a force to be reckoned with in the Caribbean, and by extension, the world.
However, it will require massive investment and patience if the tiny Caribbean island famous for its white-sand beaches and iconic cricketers is to achieve its goal of producing world-class netball players.
Smith, an experienced Level 2 United Kingdom Coaching Certificate (UKCC) netball coach, volunteered to lead the Antigua netball programme in August and nine weeks later took a team to the Americas Netball Qualifier in Jamaica in October.
With only a few weeks to prepare, the team lost all seven matches it played but Smith came away feeling optimistic about the future, at least from the perspective of available talent.
“I keep trying to remind myself that I arrived in Antigua nine weeks ago and put a team together with people that had played on some international stages at the OECS but not necessarily this level,” she said after the team had suffered its third loss, a 62-29 defeat against Grenada.
“This is a whole new level for Antigua netball. I am seeing so much about that team that is potential for the future. I always knew there was going to be an immense amount of work. That’s the exciting part. That’s the part that I love.”
Subsequent losses to Jamaica (80-29), Cayman (47-42), St Lucia (54-32) and Barbados (68-29), along with opening-day losses to Trinidad and Tobago (55-24) and the United States (34-22) means that Antigua will be looking to the future fully aware of the significant work that lies ahead.
Smith provided a frank assessment of the team’s performance afterwards.
“The Antigua team by their own admittance were grossly under-prepared when I arrived to coach them in August,” she told Sportsmax.TV
“However, all we could do is set some plans, carry them out and make the first steps to encourage the players involved to see themselves and treat themselves as national athletes.
“The creation of a squad and effective working units were paramount to the coaching team having achieved any of the targets we set for ourselves.
“The standard was expected to be high and it didn’t surprise me to see losses, but we stuck to regular quarter-by-quarter, match-by-match plans.”
Notwithstanding the challenges, Smith revealed some positives that she took from the tournament, the building blocks for a foundation on which to build for the future.
“(We) achieved defence targets by holding off goals, and managed to, in some cases, exceed our goal targets,” she said.
“We suffered early losses, but learned how to fight through third and fourth quarters with resolve and physical strength. Rotations were tough due to several mid-week injuries, and the frequency of matches with zero recovery, took a heavy toll on players.
“We used all our reserves and saw advantages for using our younger players, proving that we no longer need to worry about the loss of seasoned players from the team, but use their experience to develop and encourage the next generation.”
For that development to become reality, many changes are necessary for Antigua’s netball to grow. For one, there is a desperate need for funding.
Netball on the islands does not get government support, and is entirely dependent on fundraising efforts and the generosity of benefactors.
Shortly after Smith arrived in Antigua in August, she launched a GoFundMe account to raise £1000 to assist with getting the team to Jamaica. Each player on the squad was also tasked with raising US$450 to fund the trip.
Somehow, they managed to raise the money needed, but going forward things will have to change.
“We have penciled together a 10-year plan, but obviously it takes a lot of funding, and I am listening to the Jamaican head of netball and the president of netball telling me how difficult it is,” Smith said. (www.sportsmax.tv)