A 10-member Sunshine Girls squad has been named to represent Jamaica at the Fast5 World Netball Series in Auckland, New Zealand from November 9 through 11.

The squad will be captained by veteran mid-court player Nadine Bryan and includes Jhaneile Fowler, Romelda Aiken, Anna Kay Griffiths, Shantal Slater, Kimone Tulloch, Vangelee Williams, Malysha Kelly, Sasha-Gay Lynch and Shamera Sterling.

Team coach Oberon Pitterson-Nattie will be assisted by Marvette Anderson with team manager Antoinette Irons, physiotherapist Wendi Peart, and head of delegation, Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) president Marva Bernard.

Yvette Smith and Maureen Hall will be attending in their respective capacities as IFNA’s Rules and Coaching Committee members. International Award Umpire Terrence Peart will be officiating in the competitions.

Meanwhile, International Netball Federation (IFNA) president, Molly Rhone, told the Jamaica Observer that while the spread of the sport is moving slowly in South America — where most countries are Spanish-speaking — because of the language barrier, she was pleased with its progress in the countries of Africa and other regions.

“Spain is also a member but they are not at the level yet where they could help us with a coach so we are trying to court Cuba, so the whole development is going at a (slow) pace,” Rhone, who was guest speaker at last week’s graduation of the Advanced Level One Coaching Certification Programme at the University of Technology (UTech), said.

She added that 14 countries will play netball at the next Asian Championships.

“Argentina wanted to go to the World Juniors next year, but we had a cut-off for the first 20. New countries Namibia, Ghana, Zambia… it’s just phenomenal growth in netball as we speak. I’m very proud of that,” Rhone concluded.