As Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls target an unprecedented first-place finish at the Fast5 Netball World Series, Coach Nardia Hanson revealed that the primary focus is to nurture and develop an inexperienced squad.

Hanson emphasised that the current preparations are centred on building team cohesion and dynamics, mastering the Fast5 rules and regulations, honing shooting skills and techniques, and adapting to the unique playing surface.

The Fast5 Netball World Series is to be staged from November 9 to 10 at Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“It is a young squad. I mean, they’re inexperienced and so we’re just trying to fit combinations at the moment,” Hanson told the Jamaica Observer during one of the team’s recent practice sessions held the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC).

“We use this training session to get the girls to be familiar with the rules of Fast5 because, you know, it is not just regular netball. So we’re getting them to learn the rules, playing the ball ahead, and the girls practising their range shots,” she added.

The world’s top six Fast5 women’s teams — New Zealand, Australia, England, Jamaica, South Africa, and Malawi — are to compete at the event.

For the Fast5 Netball World Series, each team will field five players at a time, as opposed to the seven in regular netball matches. Each quarter lasts six minutes, with two-minute breaks in-between quarters, and 30-second injury time-outs.

In addition, teams are allowed to use rolling substitutions, with no stoppages in play per substitution and unlimited substitutions per quarter. Each team can separately nominate one “power play” quarter in which each goal scored by that team counts for double points.

The goal shooter and goal attack may shoot goals from anywhere in the goal third. These goals count for two points if shot from between the inner and outer goal circles, and three points if shot from outside the outer goal circle — in a power-play quarter they would count for four and six points respectively.

Hanson has expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress, citing positive responses to training.

“The squad is good so far — it’s not bad. We’re working on the way through to it. They (the players) are responding well. I mean, it’s new for them and the continuous running as this is a fast-paced game.

“So they’re adjusting; the shooters are getting the shots in, which is good, the twos and the threes. So they’re working their way through. We have a month to go, so we’ll just continue our preparations,” said Jamaica’s Fast5 Netball coach.

The Sunshine Girls have finished in second place three times at the Fast5 Netball World Series. They were runners-up to New Zealand in 2009, and replicated those finishes behind England in 2017 and New Zealand in 2018.

The Sunshine Girls have also finished third on two occasions — in 2013 behind New Zealand and Australia, and in 2010 behind New Zealand and England. At last year’s tournament they were sixth.

Hanson said that the team is aiming to reach the finals and achieve something that hasn’t been done before — winning a gold medal in Fast5. She explained that the girls are aware of the challenges due to the team’s inexperience, but they are motivated to overcome them and prove their capabilities.

“We finished sixth last year. So we’re really aiming to better that. We want to make it up to the final. So, let’s see, as I said, we have a month to go, so we’re just working all week because we don’t want to leave down there at sixth this year,” Hanson stated.

“It’s going to be hard work, so therefore it’s going to mean a lot to the country if we can win. I mean, we have never had a gold medal in the Fast5 and so we need that. And the fact that the team is inexperienced, a lot of persons probably think that they cannot get the job done. But I have confidence in them, and I know they can do it. They just need to believe in themselves that we need to take that gold,” she further stated.

Hanson said the team’s strategy focuses on leveraging the skills of experienced players as both the attackers and defenders will play a crucial role in the team’s success at the tournament.

“Our strength is in our attack as we have the shooters. We have Amanda [Pinkney] who’s experiencing giving up the twos and the threes.

“And also, I mean, experiences during the defence. We have two defenders who have been to Fast5 before, so we’re going to rely heavy at the back and on them at the back as well to make some interceptions for us,” Hanson said.