It wasn't the smoothest of starts for the national Under-16 netball practice squad's starting seven but they soon found their groove under the watchful eyes of coach Velma Hazelwood and exhibited some of what they've learned in preparation for the Caribbean Netball Association (CNA) Jean Pierre Under-16 Championships.
They were at the time facing off against a mixed team in a practice match on the netball court at the Nelson Mandela Park in St Clair, Port-of-Spain on Tuesday afternoon, putting their skills and athleticism on display with the hope of earning a spot on the national team for the annual event. The youth tournament which is named after the late T&T netball star is set to take place in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) from March 27 to April 4.
Hazelwood was on the sideline along with newly installed assistant coach Roma Noriega giving instructions to the young players with the hope of getting the best out of them in the limited time they have been together before final 12 playes are selected.
"Only last weekend, we saw the Tobago players so that has been a challenge. Next week we will be working with both sets of players (those from Tobago and the Trinidad based players) hoping to select the team by next Sunday because we do not have much time. We have had less than two months of preparation unlike last year when we had started in September," explained Hazelwood, who coached the junior "Calypso Girls" to second place in the previous edition which was won by Barbados following a round-robin format in Antigua.
The team is in the process of regrouping after retaining only a few players from the last team.
Hazelwood said, "Training is going good but the intensity of the players are not as with the last team. We have four players returning from last year's team."
Hazelwood knows all too well the level of competition that the team will face in tough opponents like multiple youth title-holders Jamaica, which returns after missing last year's tournament, Barbados, St Lucia, and host SVG.
"We need to have programmes to develop certain types of skills in the players because when they reach here they don't have the skills necessary to play good U-16 netball The competition out there has gotten fierce. The standard of play among the countries are high and cannot afford to be playing under that so we need development programmes to boost our children so by the time they reach here they will be playing a certain level of ball. I expect the level of the competition to be high this year," said Hazelwood, who has T&T Netball Association public relations officer Lynette Duncan, serving as manager and trainer/primary care Sojourner Hyles-Lewis.
"Right now the team is doing fine," said Duncan while Hyles-Lewis took the players through their warm-up paces. "We train here or at times at the Jean Pierre Complex but its more convenient for us to use the Mandela court to get the girls prepared. During the week we have to get here for 4.30 pm and it's very tedious for us to get them here but because they like sport and we want to do well, we do it."
Looking towards to tournament Duncan said, "We placed second last year and we're hoping to be first this year but we have to work very hard and this is what the girls are doing. Our coaches and trainers are working together as a unit to bring the team at that level to be able to win the tournament."
