MONEY, Money, Money’ is what 3M now means to the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) after the technology company, headquartered in the United States, yesterday injected J$10 million into the National Under-21 development programme.

The amount will fund the national youth programme for the next four years until 2013 when the team competes at the World Youth Netball Championships (WYNC).

Ninety per cent of the figure will go towards a number of netball academies, the first of which started yesterday at GC Foster College of Sport and Physical Education.

“A match made in heaven” is how 3M sales and marketing manager Shana Davis, termed the partnership.

“We recognised that the programme was in dire need of funding. We were drawn to netball because of the cleanness of the sport and we were also drawn to the fact that the netballers always represented us very well,” she told the Observer.

Coach C Lloyd Walker, who conditioned the side which finished third at the WYNC in the Cook Islands last year, outlined a four-year plan that will include building a solid foundation for the 2013 World Championships through weekend netball academies and scientific as well as technical netball training.

“(We will) expose the girls to diverse training methods,” Walker said, adding that he intended to develop and keep skills of players who had the right attitude and aptitude.

“A girl will remain on the squad only because of this,” JNA president Marva Bernard added.

GC Foster College will assist the JNA by making the gym with its sprung-board court available to the squad for training, as well as provide technical support to help the JNA with its video analysis.

Three more academies will be held before the end of July in Portland at the College of Arts Science and Education (CASE), at Bethlehem Teacher’s College in St Elizabeth, and at Holmwood Technical in Manchester.

Shortly before yesterday’s announcement, the national Under-16 netball squad departed for Barbados to defend their Jean Pierre Caribbean Youth Championship title in that country.

Captain Vanessa Jones told the Observer the young Sunshine Girls were looking forward to the contest.

“We’ve worked and have been looking forward to this day and now that it has come I know we will go out there and represent our country very well,” Jones told the Observer.

“We started training late, but I know we have put in a lot of hard work and I know it will pay off on the court.”