The bronze-medal achievement of the Sunshine Girls at the 2023 World Netball Cup in South Africa has, once again, received plaudits from the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA).

But it was not simply applause as the local Olympic governing body, in acknowledging and celebrating the character of the Sunshine Girls, last month initiated discussions under its sponsorship deal with its commercial partners, Mayberry Investments and Supreme Ventures. On August 28, the JOA announced during a ceremony, a “payout” of $1,000,000 to each team member and then gave, from its own coffers, national Coach Connie Francis, a golden reward of $2,000,000 in recognition of her admirable commitment and mettle.

The JOA secretary general and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Foster lauded the character of the Sunshine Girls and underscored association’s policy and practice of investing in merit.

“The team, which stands in victory at the top of the podium, may win the gold but may not gain instinctive and sustained applause for this is the privilege of legacy creators, which the Sunshine Girls have deservedly earned,” he said.

Foster further described JOA’s continuing robust investment in sport as “principally an endowment for the now and future development of sport and this Sunshine investment and other investments that we have made and will make are strategic and purposed in creating opportunities for the human capital of sport to have some security, for them to earn and make some provision for the future.”

JOA President Christopher Samuda highlighted the fortitude and resolve of the Sunshine Girls and generally the accomplishments of the sport.

“JOA’s respect for, and admiration of, our member Netball Jamaica, its coaches and the Sunshine Girls go beyond the monetary digits of our expression of gratitude for before the numbers — the quantitative measure — comes the qualitative value which is emblematic of character, an indomitable spirit, an inspired mind and hands that grasp and distribute that moving ball on the court with integrity of play.

“Those are the DNA attributes which are defining of the history, the present and future of humankind and which money can’t buy but can only reward. The JOA celebrates character first and then rewards with currency.”

Jamaica’s history as a small country in the sport of netball is enviable and its netballers have continued, for years, to be indisputably the leading Caribbean nation both at the senior and junior levels and are now asserting their credentials in the Americas.

At this year’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games held in the city of San Salvador, the junior Sunshine Girls won the inaugural championship comfortably and impressively.

“The roots of Jamaica’s talent in the sport go deep and are fertilised and sustained by an infrastructure of coaching and technical competencies, robust training regimes, competitive leagues and administrative expertise,” Samuda commented.

The grit and valour which the Sunshine Girls displayed on the world stage in South Africa earned them many fans in Cape Town and were not only exemplary of how the game should be played but also the character of victory.

Samuda stated: “The play must be right and the game must be honourable in victory, for winners do not necessarily have the right to wear the crown.”

Netball is wearing the crown and Netball Jamaica has been a long-standing and valued member of the Jamaica Olympic Association which has joined others in the international arena in advocating that the sport should be on the curriculum of the Olympic Games.

“In a historic move, we got netball onto the regional stage of the CAC Games and now the laser is on the global stage of the Olympic Games where the character of Jamrock will, one day, once more, captivate the world and give our nation a crowning achievement,” Foster affirmed.