NETBALL Jamaica’s (NJ) former president, Marva Bernard, could hardly contain her emotions after receiving a surprise when the Sunshine Girls’ Netball House was renamed in her honour on Saturday. Netball House, the official base of Jamaica’s netball teams located in St Andrew, will now be called the Marva Bernard Netball Chalet.

Bernard was president of NJ when the house was handed over by the Government, led by then Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in 2010. She was overwhelmed when the announcement was made during a press conference at the facility in Hope Pastures.

“I am overwhelmed and I am really surprised,” she said. “I am just honoured that they would think to do this for me. I didn’t expect this, but this is huge. You know the girls and you grow to love them, and you know the work that they have been doing for the country over the years. They are the ones doing the work, and we have to make sure they don’t have to worry about anything and can just focus on the field of play to do the work.”

Bernard, who is overseeing the refurbishment of the facility, says phase one of the renovation has been completed, with phase two now in the works.

“It was a no-brainer for me to come back and fix up the house that was a home for them,” she said. “It is for the children of poor people, and that is my mantra. These are people’s children who play netball and they deserve to be placed in accommodation that our children would live in.

“I want to thank the sponsors. JPS [Jamaica Public Service] came through with the tiling on the floor, and Derrimon Trading helped us put in a brand new kitchen. It has been a labour of love.

“The office needs to be refurbished, and some work is still needed on the bathrooms because they really need to be gutted and replaced. In fact, everything here is from when I was here so we have to look at it now.”

Golding, who handed over the facility to Netball Jamaica on behalf of the Government in 2010, attended the ceremony. He expressed pride in the team’s achievements.

“Marva did harass me, and the fact that we were classmates at UWI (The University of The West Indies) wasn’t the determining factor — it was because they were pursuing a good cause,” he said. “My real motivation was the excellence that our netball team had shown. We play cricket because it was acquired from our colonial masters, and we play football — which they call soccer — which we also acquired from our colonial masters.

“Netball didn’t arrive here that way. We built it here in Jamaica. The pioneers, the players, adopted the game and excelled, reaching a stage where they were world beaters. Supporting this kind of enterprise didn’t require any long consideration.”

Bernard served as president of NJ from 2006 to 2015.