Sunshine Girls back on court

National senior netball team head coach Sasher-Gaye Henry-Wright says the Sunshine Girls will return to the court this week as preparations intensify for their Horizon Series against rivals England.

The four-match series will see Jamaica play two games in London on November 21 and 22, before returning home for two fixtures on December 5 and 6.

Henry-Wright explained that since resuming training, the team has focused heavily on fitness ahead of the challenge against the English Roses.

“We are excited that we have started our presentations, and one of our main focuses right now is strength and conditioning, and we are really working hard to improve in that area,” she said.

“This week we will head out to the courts, and it is expected that we are going to be looking at our weak areas and try to strengthen the things that we have done well in the last Commonwealth Games.”

The Sunshine Girls, one of Jamaica’s most successful national teams, are coming off back-to-back silver medals at the Commonwealth Games.

Henry-Wright noted that while the squad is still missing several key players, she is working to ensure strategies are in place before the series.

“We are also going to be looking at the different combinations, looking at the different strategies that we have to encounter on court, and a lot of match simulations will also take place,” she said.

“The fact that we might not have the entire squad here in Jamaica is a disadvantage for us, but I am hoping that we will get everyone together as quickly as we can to get the chemistry going between the ladies and for us to really have a better understanding in terms of our game play, our cohesion on court and all of that.”

Currently ranked fourth in the world, Jamaica sits just behind England, and a series win could see the Sunshine Girls leapfrog their rivals in the rankings.

Henry-Wright said the series will be highly competitive but stressed that the team’s focus is on performance.

“It is going to be a very tough one for us because this is going to be our only international games before the World Cup, and it is going to be very important as to how we do our selection for the World Cup team. We are looking at the shortfalls that we have and we really want to improve on that. The rankings is definitely a big thing, but we just want to really focus on our performance,” she said.