Twelve netball coaches drawn from clubs, tertiary institutions and high schools across Jamaica have been added to the national pool of qualified netball instructors, having received their official certification following the successful completion of the jointly administered University of Technology, (UTech) Jamaica/Netball Jamaica Level One Coaching Certificate Course.

The fourth cohort of level one netball coaches were presented with their certificates at a special graduation ceremony held in their honour recently at Netball House in St Andrew, the home of the national netball team – the Sunshine Girls.

Orville Byfield, acting head of the Caribbean School of Sport Sciences, UTech, Jamaica, in his welcome and congratulatory remarks, expressed confidence that the graduating coaches are now among “the best certified netball coaches in the world”. He called on the new cohort to use their new-found knowledge for the continued development of netball locally and internationally and to encourage their colleague coaches to “come and get certified” in the next sitting of the Level One Netball Coaching Course.

Newly installed President of Netball Jamaica Dr Paula Daley Morris congratulated graduates on taking a step in the right direction in becoming certified. Dr Daley Morris noted that the coaching course has served to upscale many level one netball coaches across Jamaica over the last four years and thanked her predecessor, Marva Bernard, who in 2009 approached the Director of Sport UTech, Jamaica Anthony Davis for the two entities to collaborate in the interest of the development of the sport of netball. The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2010 for the administration of a series of training courses aimed at certifying 250 netball coaches to international standards.

Guest speaker Dr Joyce Royal, principal, GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports expressed pride that since 1958, netball has been arguably Jamaica’s most successful team sport, with our netballers placing consistently among the top five teams in international competitions in the world at the youth, world fast net, junior and senior levels. Noting that almost 250,000 women and girls play netball at various levels in Jamaica, Dr Royal emphasised the importance of having excellent coaches at all levels. “Without high-quality coaches, our dream of becoming and remaining the number one in the world will remain a dream,” she said, ahead of throwing out the challenge to the University of Technology, Jamaica, to develop a mobile application that will provide netball coaches across Jamaica with easy access to information on the proper techniques and tactics for playing the sport. She noted further that educational institutions such as UTech, Jamaica and GC Foster have a responsibility to create cutting- edge methods through research for the training of sports personnel to support the development of the sports industry.

The University of Technology, Jamaica/Netball Jamaica Level One Coaching Certificate Course was held over six weekends, from September to November 25, 2015, with both practical and theoretical sessions delivered at the UTech, Jamaica, Papine campus. The course comprised two modules: Basic Sport Sciences and Technical Development and Rules of the Game.

A total of 50 netball coaches from across Jamaica have been certified since the commencement of the UTech, Jamaica/Netball Jamaica Level One training course in 2012.