BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE 2013 Netball Season has been one of major improvements for the St. Kitts Netball Association (SKNA) and the sports discipline in the island; a year in which the National Team had placed First Runner-up in the OECS Competition.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, President of the SKNA Dr. Thelma Phillip-Browne noted that over the years, even though there was a limited amount of tournaments, the sport had remained active and the athletes were committed to the discipline.
She added that the sport would have seen three tournaments throughout the calendar year.
“There is the OECS Under-23 Tournament that we participated in and we placed second. I think that was in July in Antigua. And then there is the regular league…the St. Kitts National Bank- sponsored League which we held. And I think that was in August to September. Then we had a business league in September.”
According to Phillip-Browne, even though the competitions were few, they were all well-conducted and played under the best rules.
“According to what the girls told me, all the leagues turned out well. I have been out of netball for a long time and I don’t think the support was enough, but things have been going. The public response has certainly been improving…things are getting better!” she explained.
To this end, the SKNA President noted that they have been able to reestablish ties with the Caribbean Netball Association and, also in 2013, they have been able to reconnect with the St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Association, which did not find favour with the Association for the past few years.
“We were able to reconnect and re-establish ties with the Caribbean Netball Association from which we have been banned because of some issues. And we have been able to re-establish ties with the Olympic Committee as we were out of favour there. We haven’t been paying dues and we have been able to re-establish ties and they helped us with the Under-23. Usually, they are great support there,” she explained.
Phillip-Browne stated that they had lost one of their main sponsors in National Bank but the financial institution has since returned to throw its support behind the association in sponsoring a league.
She pointed out that even though the Netball Programme in schools is being handled by the Sports Department, she recognised that they have to start with getting the young ones interested in the discipline.
“We will try!” she exclaimed, adding, "I attended most of the high schools and some of the primary schools competitions and those are ran by the Sports Department, but we are trying to work closer with them. In fact, we are working with them and we try to see if we can get a coach to go along with that.”
She lamented that netball is not at the level at where they would have wanted it to be, but there is still more work to be done come 2014.
“We will also be able to make changes to the Constitution which we hope to ratify, because for some time we have been trying to change it. One suggestion the committee made is that instead of we having elections every year there should be a term of two years. And we hope to ratify that in January,” Phillip-Browne explained.
She also explained that discussions are ongoing with the Caribbean Netball Association to restart regional competitions in 2014.
Phillip-Browne further explained that St. Kitts is a part of the American Netball Federation and the International Netball Federation is responsible for the administration of the sport. However, only Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados, which are the top teams in the region, are usually invited to participate in international tournaments, and that the smaller islands are excluded once their players are over 23 years.
“But in a meeting this year with the Caribbean Netball Association that has come up as a short coming, and so they actually have a 48th anniversary next year and these are some of the things we hope to start doing…and that once again we have an adult tournament,” she added.
The SKNA President also said that when they are entering the international body they would have to enter as a Federation and not as independent islands.
