WITH just over a month before they compete at the World Netball Championships, the T&T "Calypso Girls" have stepped up their training.
Contacted yesterday, coach Grace Parkinson-Griffith noted that the players have intensified their training programme and will continue to have practice sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with shooting drills being the main focus.
The T&T coach, who led her team to a 2-0 series sweep of Barbados on home soil last month, added that the players will also resume playing practice matches against some local mixed teams from Thursday, beginning with Las Lomas at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo from 5.30 pm.
Late last week, the national coach named the 12-member netball team for the Championships, to be held at the Trusts Stadium, Waitakere in Auckland, New Zealand, from November 10-17.
The reserve players are veterans shooter Donna Elise-Charles and defender Sonia Jack. Both players are members of the Police netball team.
Jack's dismissal comes as a surprise as the "Calypso Girls" only recently lost a defender in former captain Simone Bowen-Sandy, who submitted her resignation, following the return of the squad from the Five-Nations Cup in Singapore, where they finished second to the host country.
Bowen- Sandy, who skippered the T&T unit when it qualified for the world event, cited family commitments as the reason for her departure.
Responsible for T&T's defence will be Crystal George, Kemba Duncan of Tobago, Gabrielle Selmon, Anika La Roche and occasionally Anastasia Wilson.
Wilson is also part of T&T's shooting outfit which also includes Janelle Barker, Joelisa Cooper, Simone Morgan and Lystra "Twinkle Toes" Zamore.
In the centre court are captain Rhonda John-Davis, Natalie Pierre and Tricia Liverpool.
In an effort to travel with a full squad of 14 players, the T&T Netball Association has started a drive to raise funds.
They will be travelling around the country to introduce the team to T&T, starting in Point Fortin from Sunday.
The caravan will leave the Jean Pierre Complex at 7.30 am and travel to Guapo where they will meet their hosts from Point Fortin. The team will make numerous stops in Point Fortin, including Mahaica, Fanny Village and Techier.
They will be treated to a civil reception from 1 pm at Festival Square, where they will meet major Victor Mitchell and corporate citizens from the borough.
To complete the day, the national team will play a Point All Star team at 6 pm after an opening match between Point and La Brea from 4.30 pm.
The matches will be played at the Southwestern Regional Indoor Sports Arena in Egypt Village.
In New Zealand, T&T, joint winners with Australia and New Zealand in 1979, will play Scotland, Samoa and Australia in Pool B.
T&T also had a second place finish in 1987 and was third in 1983, however the team has since seen a steady decline in its world ranking since the late 1980s and is desperate for some sort of success in New Zealand.
A total of 48 games will be played during the 2007 New World Netball World Championships in Auckland.
Pool play will be conducted in a round-robin format (ie each team plays the other three teams in its pool).
Points will be awarded for wins and draws in these games which will be played on the first four days of the tournament.
At the end of the round robin all teams will be re-ranked from one to four within their pools, that is, A1, B3, C4, D2, etc, based on the points gained from their pool game results.
Pool A is comprised of host New Zealand, Wales, Malawi and Botswana; Pool A has Jamaica, Fiji, Singapore and Cook Islands while England, Barbados, South Africa and Malaysia are in D.
The two top-ranked teams from each pool move to the section games in the one to eight section, while the bottom two ranked teams from each pool will move to the section games in the nine to 16 section.
All points gained from the round robin games will be discarded.
Both the one to eight and nine to 16 sections commence quarterfinals, semi-finals and final playoff games, scheduled for the last four days of the tournament.
All games in this phase must play to an outright winner ie no drawn games are permitted.
T&T World netball team: Rhonda John-Davis (captain), Janelle Barker, Simone Morgan, Joelisa Cooper, Kemba Duncan, Anastasia Duncan, Crystal George, Lystra "Twinkle Toes" Zamore, Natalie Pierre, Gabrielle Selmon, Anika La Roche, Tricia Liverpool, Grace Parkinson-Griffith (coach), Sharon Finnan (technical director) Francesca Rosseau (manager), Dave Bobb (trainer).