International invites want more support for Elite League
Published:Friday | August 1, 2025 | 9:37 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
DANIELLE JORDAN-TAFT of England and Hannah Kuhar of Australia became the first overseas professionals to participate in the Red Stripe Flavours Netball Jamaica Elite League, which ended on the weekend.
According to Netball Jamaica President Karen Baugh, it was easy to contract both players, who already had an interest in playing netball in the land of the Sunshine Girls, and even paid their own way to get to Jamaica.
The two have played at the highest levels in their countries, and both expressed joy and satisfaction from their experience playing in the Caribbean country.
Nevertheless, they believe the league still has a lot of room to grow, and that it needs proper funding to reach a satisfactory professional standard.
Jordan-Taft, who is of Jamaican heritage and still has family residing in the country, said the league needs more overseas players and coaches to take it to the next level. That will cost money.
“The league needs more sponsorship. It needs more money to attract better players. In order to increase the standard of play, we need to get overseas coaches and more foreign players,” said Jordan-Taft.
Kuhar agrees.
“I have learned a lot coming into this league, even though it is not at the level that I am used to. But if more girls of my standard from Australia or wherever come here, we can grow the standard,” she said.
According to Jordan-Taft, Jamaican players are athletic and have a lot of natural ability, and that if they have access to the resources she has in England, it would go a far way in improving Jamaica’s netball.
“We have a high-performance standard in England. We train four times a week and play matches on weekends.
“Out here, we do one day (training), if everybody can make it. It’s hard for some of the girls to get there from where they live, financially, let alone physically being able to be in that one destination.
“But if you want to improve netball in Jamaica you have to bring in foreigners, in my opinion, to raise the standard. But the only way to bring us in from overseas is to have some funding.
“It was very difficult for me to get everything together to be here. We need more money. With us coming over, there are going to be more attractions,” she stated.
Baugh acknowledged that the inclusion of more overseas players and coaches would add value to the league, but that it might be a while before they have foreign coaches.
“It is a possibility (that we can have more foreign players in the future). I will never say never. We will see where that leads us. But I really do feel that, primarily, it is a platform for our local coaches to learn and grow.
“It would be good to see our coaches matching up against top international coaches. But we will get there one day. The more we move into a professional space, maybe then you have a team recruiting our coach, rather than us signing a coach. So maybe one day,” she declared.
She added that next year Netball Jamaica will look to expand the league with more teams.
“This year we wanted to make sure we had it, because we didn’t want it to pause. But we are definitely looking for support at every level. So next year, look for us to come back bigger and better.”
Kuhar said Netball Jamaica has done its best to sustain the league without proper financial support, and that it must continue to aim for a higher standard despite its struggles.
Still, Baugh believes the first attempt at having international players in the league went well.
“They (Jordan-Taft and Kuhar) have been very vocal about their experience; and for both of them it was not about the money, it was for the experience, because Jamaica has an experience like no other. And from my conversations with them, it has definitely been positive.”