KAREN Rosen Baugh’s appointment as the 12th president of Netball Jamaica (NJ) marks another significant milestone in the organisation’s history. With her extensive experience and passion for the sport, Rosen Baugh promises to drive the development of Jamaican netball.

Rosen Baugh formally took over as president during the annual general meeting at The Summit on Saturday, July 5, 2025. She succeeds Tricia Robinson who chose not to seek re-election after she completed a five-year tenure.

Rosen Baugh noted that completing the financials to bring them up to date is one of the key priorities.

“We have an objective of completing all the outstanding financials by the end of September this year, and so we will definitely be working hard on that. We have a new treasurer, plus the previous treasurer was re-elected as a director, and so we will have that synergy and that handover should be fairly seamless,” Rosen Baugh told the Jamaica Observer.

“And then a lot of governance issues surround how we are going to organise the board, who’s going to be responsible for what areas, and we have that work to do in the next few weeks and have that alignment,” she added.

Simone Forbes is first vice-president while Dwayne Gutzmer is second vice-president; and Elaine Walters is the treasurer. The board members are Tashike Salmon, Derrick Brown, Karen Whinstanley, Karlene Waugh, Suzette Townsend and Denese Palmer.

Rosen said the team is well-equipped to tackle the challenges ahead.

“It’s an honour [being the president]. I am humbled by the trust the members have placed in me and the new board of directors, and so we are going to try our best not to let anybody down and to just put in the work.

“I am actually quite pleased with the board that the members elected; I think we have a really good mix. There was a little competition for the positions, which was good, but I think the team, you know, once they are aligned — which I don’t see any reasons why we shouldn’t be — we should be ready to hit the ground running,” she said.

As the Netball World Youth World Cup (NWYC2025) in Gibraltar from September 19-28 approaches, Rosen Baugh said the preparation of Jamaica’s Under-21 team will be important.

“The third thing will be the Under-21 team which is scheduled to go to the NWYC2025, and so all the closing out of that, those arrangements of the team to go to that event, we need to have that on the front burner.” Rosen Baugh said.

The Red Stripe Flavours/NJ Elite League is a cornerstone of the development of Jamaica’s local netball. With close matches this season and Under-21 players participating, the league has provided valuable experience for young athletes.

“We would have a task force to look at all our leagues [including the Elite League] and look at the structure, the relationship to each other, where players play and overlap, remuneration — all of that. That is expected to happen in the next couple of months as well,” she explained.

In addition to these initiatives, Rosen Baugh plans to introduce a Fast5 festival, seen as an innovative addition to the netball calendar.

“Week after next we will have a Fast5 festival,” she announced. “This is a new element that we have added. It is not the Elite teams, but members of the Elite teams can join other teams. We are creating some teams to mix for two days — the weekend of July 19 —and then we close out the next week with the Elite League,” she said.

ROSEN BAUGH… I am humbled by the trust the members have placed in me and the new board of directors, and so we are going to try our best not to let anybody down and to just put in the work