‘Our performance improved’: Joseph credits teams for finishing third in ‘tougher’ ECCB International Netball Series

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By Neto Baptiste

Despite repeating as third place finishers in this year’s ECCB International Netball Series following a similar finish last year, the coach of the Antigua and Barbuda Wadadli Girls, Karen Joseph, considers the team’s overall performance one year on as an improvement.

Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show following the September 29 to October 8 championships held at the refurbished YMCA Sports Complex, Joseph said this year’s competition was more challenging compared to 2022 when some teams did not take part.

“The good thing about this year is that all of the teams were in the competition because last year, even though we came third and I was pleased, we didn’t have Grenada, and this year we [had] all the OECS [teams] and we were still able to maintain our third position. That means our performance improved a whole lot and I am really pleased with the girls,” she said.

“We had some injuries, but apart from [that] I think we needed to be a bit fitter than we were. Sometimes you want to play the opponents’ game — which is a faster pace game like St Vincent and Grenada — which is not for us and we need to keep our pace and go back to basics,” she added. 

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Grenada captured the 2023 title after missing the 2022 instalment held in Dominica (Photo courtesy ECCB Connects)

Antigua and Barbuda amassed eight points following four wins and four losses from their eight fixtures. They were bettered by champions Grenada who finished with 12 points from seven wins and one loss, while second-placed St Vincent and the Grenadines won six and lost two of their eight showings.

Joseph showered praises on the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for what she said was a job well done.

“Sometimes you host and tournament and there must be hiccups and challenges, but they worked hard on a daily basis to make sure this [tournament] was a success. We had challenges and we had hiccups but overall, I think we did a good job. I must say here that I am really pleased and proud of my LOC, the ground staff, the table officials, the ball girls and all who came onboard to make sure the tournament was a success,” she said.

Joseph, who is also president of the national netball association, said the aim is to provide the team with more opportunities to play, hinting that the country could take part in a tri-national series with two of the other countries coming out of the ECCB tournament by early next year.

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Antigua and Barbuda Wadadli Girls take instructions prior to the start of a match in the recently completed series held at the YMCA Sports Complex (Observer media photo)

“That’s where we have to go now in this region; we have to play more netball and that is what is killing us and we can only get better if we continue to play. So we were invited by Cayman Islands and St Kitts for maybe February to go and have some tri-series to also improve our rankings. It is going to take a lot for us to get there because they wanted us to come and then they would come, so we’re looking at it. The girls need to take a break and then start to do some therapy,” she said.

Antigua and Barbuda scored a total of 323 goals in their eight matches but allowed 334 at an average of 0.97 and a negative 11 goal difference.

St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and St Lucia were fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, all with four points while Montserrat finished seventh. Barbados and Cayman Islands featured as specially invited teams that were not included on the standings. However, Barbados finished unbeaten in the tournament while Cayman Islands had a 50 percent success rate, winning four of their eight matches.

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