JAMAICA Netball Association (JNA) president Marva Bernard says the senior netball team will sadly miss the skills of goal shooter Crystal Gordon on their tour of Australia and New Zealand after the player was refused a leave of absence by her United States-based college to be part of this month’s five-test tour.

Gordon, who was named as one of the 12-member squad, did not make the trip with the other 10 players who left yesterday for Australia because she was not released by Queen’s College to which she was accepted earlier this summer on a volleyball scholarship.

Bernard told the Observer that the JNA had made an impassioned plea to Gordon’s coach to allow her to be part of the netball tour, but had been told that the player needed to be part of a pre-season camp to help improve her volleyball playing skills.

“It’s a great, great loss,” Bernard said. “We appealed to the college but the coach said she had to attend the college camp.”

The JNA boss added that they discovered that Gordon had received the scholarship two weeks ago, leaving them with too short a time for any other player selected to go in her place to acquire the requisite visas to travel.

In addition to a visa to travel through the United States, passports have to be sent abroad to the respective High Commissions in either Washington DC or Canada for Jamaicans to acquire visas for Australia and New Zealand. The entire process could take as long as a month.

The JNA also had other problems with another player last month as Anna Kay Griffiths was initially refused a US visa to travel, but was later given one after appeals by the local netball body.

Meanwhile, the Connie Francis-coached Sunshine Girls should arrive in Australia today where they will be joined by goal shooter Romelda Aiken for the three test matches there and the later two tests in New Zealand.

Aiken remained in Australia where she plays for the Queensland Firebirds after the conclusion of last season’s ANZ Championships.

The Sunshine Girls will take on the world champions Australia in Melbourne, Sydney, and Queensland on the 8th, 11th, and 15th.

They will then move to New Zealand to play the world number two-ranked Silver Ferns in two games on August 18 in Napier and the 21 in Christchurch.

“They are ready for the tour,” former Australia coach Jill McIntosh, who has been working with the squad for the last six weeks told the Observer.

“Probably there are two or three senior players missing which means the team is a younger team and less experienced, but the experience (they will get) is just going to be invaluable leading into the Commonwealth Games,” she added.

While the team is an inexperienced one, McIntosh played down their chances of losing all their games.

“I think they have a chance to win. It just depends on how they travel. It’s going to be cold and how they deal with it. Some of the newer ones have never played Australia and New Zealand at the senior level so it’s going to be demanding and they have to overcome that. It just depends on what happens on the day,” McIntosh said.

The former player and International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) Coaches Committee member told the Observer that the series against Australia and New Zealand and another next month against world number three-ranked England will be good preparation for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October, especially with the depth of the squad which was absent before.

“There will not be any surprises when they go to the Commonwealth and that’s very important,” she said. “They have a squad of very good players and with the depth I have seen (if) some are not available they have other very good players to choose from.”

The remainder of the squad for the series is captain Nadine Bryan, Vanessa Walker, Sasher-Gaye Henry, Sateva Taylor, Paula Thompson, Nicole Aiken, Georgia Gordon, Malysha Kelly, and Sasha-Gay Lynch.

Coach Connie Francis will be assisted by Annett Daley, with team manager Andrea Anthony, physiotherapist Maureen Spence-Campbell, and doctor Praimanand Singh also making the trip.