By Neto Baptiste
A packed schedule which saw teams playing twice daily in the recently concluded Netball Americas World Cup Qualifiers held in Jamaica was “too taxing” on players.
This is according to the President of the Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association (ABNA), Karen Joseph, who said the congested line-up took a toll on the players and eventually negatively impacted their performances.
“I know the girls gave of their best, but my point with the competition is that it was too taxing for the short period of time. We didn’t have any recovery period from a morning match to the afternoon — because the amount of injuries I saw in Jamaica — and some players still played for love of their country. I’ve seen people in pain and still playing and jumping, hopping on the one foot for their country. I’ve seen it in my team, St Vincent, and all of the other teams,” she said.
The senior team returned to Antigua on Monday following their winless run in the tournament and, according to Joseph, the players will be given some deserved rest.
“The girls are on a break now and then maybe November or so we will restart in the gym. It has to be about the mindset as well in terms of taking care of the body from a nutrition standpoint and all those kind of things. We have to campaign as well for additional players because we need to find some thoroughbreds [big players]. We had started something in Barbuda and we need to go back there to see where we go from here,” Joseph said.
Captain of the team and veteran goal shoot, Amey Lake, echoed Joseph’s sentiment by underlining the physicality of the matches.
“I am going to be honest; it was a bit harsh and I’ve never had injuries from netball but at this tournament it was like every part of me ached and there wasn’t any recovery. It was physical, extremely physical and at one point I was pinned to the goal post where the defense just literally took me and just jammed me in between the goal post,” the player said.
Antigua and Barbuda’s best showing in the tournament came against the Cayman Islands which they lost 47-42. They were, however, hammered 80-23, by Jamaica and 55-24 to Trinidad and Tobago, among other losses.
