Sunshine Girls off to NZ

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

A confident 10-member Sunshine Girls squad, headed by veteran captain Nadine Bryan, leaves the island today for this year's Fast5 World Netball Series, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, from November 9-11.

The Jamaicans, who won a silver medal at the championships in 2009, finished fourth at last year's tournament, which was held in Liverpool, England.

"We are going to make sure that we work hard to get a medal down there," said Bryan.

"This is a new tournament for us and it is going be a tough tour because it is five persons on the court, and so it is going to be rough for each player," Bryan said.

Bryan added that they have worked extremely hard in their preparations and everyone is very upbeat ahead of the tournament.

"We know it is going to take a lot of work from us, but we are willing and able to give it our best shot because the girls know what is expected of them," Bryan stated.

"Whenever we go out there, we always try and give our best shot, and this will be no different for us," she remarked.

expressing confidence

Meanwhile, Sunshine Girls' head coach, Oberon Pitterson-Nattie, is also expressing confidence ahead of her team's departure today.

"This is a tournament that is up for grabs and we hope that we can grab it," said Pitterson-Nattie during a press conference at the Knutsford Court hotel on Wednesday. "We have worked hard and we really want to win this," she said.

Pitterson-Nattie added: "They are confident and they have always been confident. They know what the task is and they want to do well. They struggle at times with consistency, but they are confident."

The Sunshine Girls' team will also include the likes of Jhaniele Fowler, who is rated as one of the best shooters in the world, along with experienced shooter Romelda Aiken.

Also included in the squad are Anna-Kay Griffiths, Kimone Tulloch and Malysha Kelly, who represented Jamaica at the last World Netball Championships, held in Singapore last year. The other members of the squad are Sasha-Gay Lynch, Shameera Sterling, Vangelee Williams and Shantal Slater.