New Zealand’s van Dyk to hold netball coaching clinics in Jamaica
New Zealand’s Irene van Dyk will be undertaking a series of coaching clinics for children, coaches and teachers in Jamaica to be held inside the National Arena from August 15-17, the New Zealand High Commission and Netball Jamaica have announced.
Van Dyk’s career as an international netball player puts her in the record books, and her impact on the way the game is played, both in New Zealand and around the world, has been immense.
The South African-born athlete has now retired from playing international netball, but remains the world’s most capped netballer with 145 caps for New Zealand’s Silver Ferns. In 2008, van Dyk was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to netball.
New Zealand High Commissioner to Jamaica Daniel Mellsop said: “I am delighted that Irene is visiting Jamaica, which supports our shared sporting values and as a mechanism to empower young women.”
Meanwhile, Dr Paula Daley-Morris, president of Netball Jamaica, expressed her gratitude for the partnership. “We are elated to collaborate with His Excellency Daniel Mellsop and his team at this time. The people of Jamaica, particularly, Netball Jamaica fraternity, are immensely grateful for this contribution to the development of the sport.
“Irene’s visit to Jamaica is extremely timely as, 59 years ago, when the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) was founded, the first coach to lead a New Zealand team to World Cup victory in 1967, Taini Jamison (1967-1971), reportedly visited our shores to assist founder the late Leila Robinson with the training of coaches for the game,” Dr Daley-Morris said.
The first day of the ‘Joy Watson Pickney Netball Seminar’ will be held on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, it also marks the beginning of Netball Jamaica’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
“It is truly befitting that 59 years later, another New Zealander has joined us on our shores as we mark this momentous occasion. Surely, there is no better way to signal our progress in sport than with the passing on of the coaching knowledge of the world-renowned netballer, Irene van Dyk to Jamaican Pickney Netballers, and their coaches,” said the Netball Jamaica president.
Meanwhile, funding for the three-day netball seminar was provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with considerable support from Netball Jamaica and Netball New Zealand.
