‘An opportunity no one else gave me’
Azara Wilmot ready for Sunshine Girls, Commonwealth Games debut
English-born shooter Azara Wilmot says she’s ready to repay the faith shown in her, after being called up to represent Jamaica’s senior Sunshine Girls at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Games run from July 23 to August 2, and for Wilmot it will mark her first major senior tournament in black, green and gold. And it’s a chance she says she’ll never forget, because Jamaica believed in her first.
“They’ve given me an opportunity, an opportunity that no one else gave me and I’m ready to show what I can do on the international stage,” Wilmot told the Jamaica Observer.
The 2026 call-up comes after years of development in the English system. Wilmot started out at AP Saints, playing Under-16 regional netball.
“I started playing netball in England at AP Saints, I was playing Under-16 regional and so I was actually not having playing netball that long,” she explained.
“I moved to Northern Premier League with London Pulse and then I got picked for England Under-19 Roses Academy and I ended up leaving and coming into Jamaica,” she explained.
That decision to switch allegiance was not a difficult one, Wilmot admitted.
“Jamaica was, to be honest, an easy option for me. They showed interest in me. They showed that they wanted to develop me as a player and I was willing to take that chance, the sacrifice that was making, it really didn’t mean anything,” she stated.
Wilmot said that she has been growing.
“Netball has been really good for me. I feel like every year I have been getting better, developing more as a player. I feel like I am more confident in myself as a shooter and I just felt like that I working and I am building of myself,” she said.
”Now, with the Commonwealth Games beginning soon, Wilmot is embracing the moment rather than the emotion of facing her birth nation.
“I am very excited. It’s a good opportunity for me to play for the Jamaica senior Sunshine Girls. The people that laid the footsteps that I’m walking in have paved a great way for me and I am really excited.
“I wouldn’t say I’m emotional. I’d say it’s an opportunity to play with Jamaica — I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s where I’m looking to be for the rest of my career,” she ended.
