Netball clubs vote for change

Kimberley Cummins 

Change is in the air at the Barbados Netball Association (BNA) as the new president aims to further develop the sport by improving the playing surfaces, creating more opportunities for players to play professionally and expanding men’s netball.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Dr Carmeta Douglin, taking over from former president Nisha Craigwell, laid out a sweeping mandate for her new role in which she will oversee all aspects of netball in Barbados. 

Douglin defeated Craigwell 24 to 19 votes in the latter’s bid to retain the presidency at the BNA’s annual general meeting on Wednesday night where netball enthusiast Carl ‘Alf’ Padmore was elected as the new vice-president after he unseated Oliver Nicholas 41 to 14 in the final count. 

Douglin maintained that not all her plans will be fruitful overnight but she was optimistic about their potential. High on her agenda is assisting players to rise to a level that would attract scouts. 

Drawing a reference to players from Jamaica and Trinidad who have landed contracts to play in professional leagues in Australia, England and New Zealand, Douglin is desirous of also seeing Barbadian players at that level. 

She said this is possible with a good core of coaches that includes an international coach. While the veteran netball umpire noted that the latter has been promised for a while now and funds were previously set aside, it has never come to actualization. However, with a refreshed vision she hopes to see such installed within the New Year.

“I am hoping that our board can have that person in place as early as January or February. That is something we would have to advertise for. We will have to revisit the funds and see if they are still available and definitely we have to put that in place. 

“I think that once we have a coaching team, and it is not just one coach who is going to do it, I am hoping we can have a shooting coach, a mid-court coach and a defensive coach to work along with that international coach. And once our players are up to that standard they will be selected,” she said. 

Another area of major concern for Douglin is the current state of the island’s lone netball stadium. She contended that the lack of cushion for players while jumping and landing on the cement court at the Waterford, St Michael facility, was causing injuries to players. 

According to Douglin, one such talented player who had been adversely affected was Shonica Wharton who she noted was seen as a hopeful to play professional netball overseas.

“But now she is so injured that when you look at the Jamaica game, she barely played like half of two games because she was so badly injured,” the administrator charged.

Additionally, given the fact that the Wildey Gymnasium is not available for playing on a regular basis, she said an injection of funds from corporate Barbados as well as government, was important in the effort to have a paved stadium. 

She stressed: “We need some injection of funds from corporate Barbados so we can have a paved stadium so that everybody can be playing on that paved area. . . . Looking at the stadium now, the walls are breaking down, everything is happening, and really it is not good enough for the players to be playing.” 

In a bid to increase interest in the sport, Douglin wants to see the continued expansion of the sport to include Fast Five, where there are five players instead of the traditional seven. She also wants to push the development of men’s netball and hopes to have netball added to the list of Olympic sports.

The president aims to host a men’s netball tournament in 2023. Adding that generating male interest in the traditional female sport will be a challenge, Douglin noted the process had already begun as there are already about two men’s teams on the island that play.

“We can start with them and then encourage others to come on board. Right now, England has men’s teams, Japan [and] Australia, there are quite a few men’s teams. I mean, it hasn’t caught on big in netball (local) because the board hasn’t really pushed it but this board is one that is going to push it,” Douglin stated.

The new president plans also extend beyond the court and encompass clinics for coaches and umpires, as well as training for administrators.

“In general, we want to develop the entire sport. Netball in Barbados needs a lot of development . . . . We know that the schools have been working with netball but we want to actually pull a squad together and have a succession plan so that you can move from Under 11 to Under 14 to Under 16 and you move up so we don’t lose good players. We also provide them with skills from an early age by bringing them together. 

“Even at the senior level, to have A and B teams so that you don’t just select your 12 and throw away the others. You keep them together in a squad where they can continue to hone their skills and play together and then if there are injuries in the higher team you have those to select from. We’ve got to think about succession where we move from there and there are other areas where we want to do that. So, it is not going to happen overnight but we are going to hit the road running as a new executive,” Douglin insisted.