The devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica has left many communities reeling, but amidst the destruction, Netball Jamaica (NJ) and the Sunshine Girls are refusing to be deterred.

Karen Rosen Baugh, president of (NJ), says that despite the challenges posed by the hurricane, the team is back in training and ready to take on England in the upcoming 2025 Horizon Vitality Netball Series.

The series, which was set to feature two home games for Jamaica at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) on December 6 and 7, followed by two away fixtures at the Copper Box Arena in London, England, on December 13 and 14, had been threatened by the aftermath of the hurricane. However, Rosen Baugh is confident that the team will be able to overcome the challenges and put up a strong fight against their English counterparts.

“So Netball Jamaica, physically, in terms of our offices and staff members, we are fine just with some friendly damage, nothing directly,” Rosen Baugh told the Jamaica Observer.

“Some of our team members, obviously almost everybody has family members who were directly impacted and so we are dealing with that. We actually launched our Relief Effort Initiative [last Thursday] to support those persons, as well as generally we are looking at zooming in on women and children and see what we can do both locally and internationally to help the cause,” the president added.

“Importantly, the outdoor netball courts [Leila Robinson courts] at Independence Park are fine, as well as the NISC and National Arena.

“The outdoor netball courts are fine. Kingston wasn’t severely impacted and the wooden floor was taken up by Independence Park Limited (IPL) and stored, and so they fine. Whatever damage that were there was there before, nothing had to do with the storm,” Rosen Baugh explained.

She said the Sunshine Girls’ training programme was significantly affected as the hurricane slowly approached Jamaica.

“We hadn’t had training for two weeks because the storm was slow moving and so we had shutdown from a week before and then the days following the storm they are back in training,” Rosen Baugh said.

Despite the challenges, the Sunshine Girls are determined to make their mark. The team, which won last year’s inaugural Horizon Vitality Series 2-1, is eager to build on that momentum.

“The players are a little bit fatigued but I think, they are typical Jamaicans; they are strong, resilient, and ready to go. As I said, a few dealing with family issues as some are from out of Kingston and we are trying to support them. But generally speaking, they are good. We are okay, we are moving forward and we will see what happens with the series,” explained Rosen Baugh.

She said the team is focused on making a statement.

“We haven’t put out the team’s list as yet but we are expecting them to give as stronger fight as we can. England has always been our close rivals and so we expected the same for this year,” Rosen Baugh reiterated.

Jamaica’s Latanya Wilson (right) tries to disrupt England’s play during the first game of the Horizon series at the OA Arena in Manchester, England, November 17, 2024.

Jamaica’s Romelda Aiken-George (right) and England’s Funmi Fadoju compete for ball during game three of the Horizon Series at the National Indoor Sports Centre on November 25, 2024. Photo: Collin Reid

ROSEN BAUGH…we hadn’t had training for two weeks because the storm was slow moving Photo: Collin Reid