After years of fervently advocating for the growth and development of netball in Jamaica, Marva Bernard has finally received a special recognition for her work.

Bernard became the third recipient of the special Lifetime Achievement Award for playing an integral role in netball and leading the association for 10 years.

The award, which was introduced and presented to Jamaican sporting greats Merlene Ottey and Mike McCallum in 2010, made a return at the RJR Sports Foundation National Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year Awards gala at Jamaica Pegasus on Friday night.

Over the years, Bernard displayed an undying passion for the sport and love for the players, and was well known for her unwavering pleas for support for the Sunshine Girls.

When she was announced as the winner of the coveted award on Friday, whe was left speechless.

“After 22 years, it is really unbelievable and all I am experiencing now is joy and appreciation. When I started this journey I had no idea where it was going to take me,” she said.

“I am the best bookkeeper in town and so Molly (Rhone) wanted somebody to take care of certain aspects of the work at the association. The more I got involved with the players, the more I realised how hooked I was on them; they came with the sport and the rest is history,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

As a certified accountant and holder of Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Bernard started her journey with the JNA as a treasurer in 1993, and worked her way to the helm in 2005.

But all good things must come to an end, and after 10 years of unmatched dedication as president, she decided to close an important chapter of her life last year.

“I do believe in term limits and I know that I would have had to stop when I did, but it is kind of surreal because I am not sure I have come to grips yet with who the people are talking about. Because you get up every day and you do what you have to do and to be rewarded like this — for a girl who never played netball and who couldn’t get her team to win — it is an honour.”

“I gave her (Molly Rhone) my word that I would help her; she took me along to INF (International Netball Federation) with her and I gave it up to come back to Netball Jamaica, because I found that I was thinking so much about the girls and how I could do so much more for them,” Bernard recalled..

“I have a great team of people who have helped me along this journey and I couldn’t have received this award without them. So thanks to the volunteers, friends and family for helping me along that path,” she added.

During her tenure, Bernard, who is a firm believer of balancing tasks, was able to acquire a much-needed netball house, and watched from courtside as Jamaica won bronze medals at the 2009 and 2013 World Youth Netball Championships.

With her assistance, the Sunshine Girls team were successful in securing bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and maintained their number-four ranking after their campaign at last year’s World Netball Championships.

Now that she is no longer the top administrator of Netball Jamaica, the vivacious Bernard shared that she will now dedicate her time to close friends and family.

“I didn’t have a programme and nobody said anything to me about an award. I just came here tonight (Friday) to have fun. I know that my team didn’t win a medal so they wouldn’t be getting an award and there would be no award for netball,” she pointed out.