After analysing the youthful Sunshine Girls’ performances during the just-ended Americas Netball World Cup Qualifiers, Head Coach Connie Francis says the future looks bright for the development of the sport.

The tournament, which was staged at the National Indoor Sports Centre from October 16 to 22, saw the Jamaicans, without most of their experienced stars, thrash every team that crossed their path.

During an eight-game winning streak, the Sunshine Girls defeated St Vincent and the Grenadines 74-35; the United States 70-16; Cayman Islands 81-27; Antigua and Barbuda 80-23; Grenada 74-48; St Lucia 85-30; Barbados 75-37; and Trinidad and Tobago 69-37.

“We actually lost a quarter, but that was okay given that this group of girls was playing together for the very first time. I thought that they held their own. You know, you have seen some really good prospects with some still in working progress stages,” Francis told the Jamaica Observer.

“But overall, I mean, what these girls can do is phenomenal because, especially coming up against Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, who are more seasoned teams than us, they [Sunshine Girls] were able to dominate all the quarters against those teams and they played extremely well.

“We were able to conquer their mid-court. They [Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago] have a good solid shooting team and our young defenders were able to go in there and disrupt flows, carrying the ball through mid-court with such aggression and confidence. You know, you just have to continue and nurture the talent within us. “The future looks bright for netball in the country,” Francis added.

The Sunshine Girls, who had already qualified for next year’s World Cup in South Africa, used the tournament for development purposes.

“We have a lot of talented players out there, even some who have not got their chances as yet. But the thing is that we have a development squad that is in place and they are going to training sessions. So it was just about selecting some of the players from the development squad to join our group, and it showed the quality of players we are developing,” Francis said.