Netball competitions in limbo after hurricane devastation
It is unlikely that the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Rural Area schoolgirls’ netball competition will continue, as up to Friday, 38 of the 57 schools taking part had not indicated their willingness to resume after the postponement due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
Schools had up to 2:00 pm on Friday, November 14 to indicate whether they were willing to resume participation in the competition and a memo from ISSA on Thursday had indicated that most of the schools were yet to respond.
Georgia Reid, the netball coach at Montego Bay High, who entered only a junior team, said they have taken the decision not to continue for a number of reasons.
“[Because of the] impact of Hurricane Melissa, daily operations, including school schedules, have been significantly altered,” Reid told the Jamaica Observer, “Our school will reopen on Monday, November 16, 2025, for existing groups 11-13.”
“The students are not yet prepared for the scheduled restart, and many team members will not return when school resumes as they are not a part of the existing groups. Requesting these students and their parents to find and allocate resources for them to attend training and matches would be unreasonable.”
Reid said also, “Furthermore, Hurricane Melisa has caused numerous student athletes and their families to relocate, influencing our decision to prioritise student well-being.”
Earlier this week ISSA had indicated that the schoolboy football competitions, the daCosta Cup and Manning Cup, would resume at the end of the month, following a series of meetings with stakeholders.
The football competitions, which started on the first weekend of September, had reached their third round – the round of 16 — and, according to ISSA, the schools were willing to continue.
In the case of the netball competitions that are played in two age groups, Under-16 and Under-19, most of the schools that were yet to respond are from western Jamaica — an area that was badly damaged during the passage of the hurricane on October 28, but there were also affected schools from Central Jamaica as well as the eastern parishes.
Thirteen of the schools that had not indicated their willingness to continue are from the parishes of St James, Hanover and Trelawny; six are from St Elizabeth, while there were others from Manchester, St Ann, St Mary, St Catherine and Portland.
