McIntosh Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer
Former Australian netball coach, Jill McIntosh, says Jamaica's Sunshine Girls have a chance of winning the World Netball Championships (WNC) but will have to be physically and mentally tough.
The Jamaicans will face major competition from hosts and world number one New Zealand and world number two Australia at the tournament which will be hosted in New Zealand later this year in November.
Speaking to The Gleaner after a press conference yesterday morning where Jamaica Beverages announced its sponsorship to the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) to foot a major part of McIntosh's expenses while she will be here conducting coaching clinics for a month, the Australia explained:
"Australia have a team now that is working very well, they are fast and Australia are very determined to get back their number one ranking.
"New Zealand have a team that has lost a few players, they are rebuilding and they are also very determined to retain their number one ranking."
She added: "Where Jamaica come in is they have to be strong and they have to be mentally very tough when they play New Zealand and Australia. If they are not mentally tough and strong then they won't win.
"If they are mentally tough and strong then they have every chance of beating either team.
"Without these necessary criteria they won't be able to win any game against these two top sides," said McIntosh, who will also serve as an advisor to the Sunshine Girls for their tour of Australia and New Zealand later this month.
Second purchase
It is the second time that McIntosh will be conducting a number of coaching clinics in the island.
Jamaica Beverages' sponsorship of her one-month assignment is to the tune of $600,000, which will cover accommodation, meals and other expenses.
Details of Jamaica Beverages' sponsorship were announced at a press conference yesterday morning at its Portmore headquarters, where McIntosh was in attendance along with JNA president Marva Bernard.
The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) will take care of McIntosh's traveling expenses.
Continuing to speak of Jamaica's WNC chances, McIntosh, who coached Australia to the World Championships title in 1999 and the Commonwealth Games crown in 2002, stated: "The Jamaicans are right in there and they have every chance of winning it (the World Championships) if they play well. Then it will come down to the day of the game between those teams to see who comes away with it.
"I think the Jamaican team has improved greatly over the past couple of years," McIntosh said. "They are very much capable of winning a championship and I think at the moment you have New Zealand at number one, Australia at number two, Jamaica at number three and England at four, and I think that all four of these countries can win the World Championships, I think that it is going to be very close," she explained.
McIntosh added, "The Jamaicans are not very far away from beating the top two teams in the world. However, when you consider at the Commonwealth Games last year, when Jamaica drew with Australia in the preliminary round and unfortunately in the semi-finals New Zealand beat Jamaica comfortably, so I think that Jamaica is very close to the two top teams in the world."
