Photo: Jhanelle Davis of Supreme Ventures conducting the lottery draw
Netball Jamaica (NJ) launched and conducted the lottery to select the six teams that will form the Berger Elite League which will start on March 21. It will run till the middle of May. The bulk of the matches will be played at the Lelia Robinson Courts in Kingston with two sets of matches in Clarendon and Manchester. Matches will be played on Friday evenings starting at 6:00 pm while the out of town matches will be played on Sundays. The launch took place at the Netball House in Kingston on Friday March 7.
Photo: Jhanelle Davis of Supreme Ventures conducting the lottery draw
Netball Jamaica (NJ) launched and conducted the lottery to select the six teams that will form the Berger Elite League which will start on March 21. It will run till the middle of May. The bulk of the matches will be played at the Lelia Robinson Courts in Kingston with two sets of matches in Clarendon and Manchester. Matches will be played on Friday evenings starting at 6:00 pm while the out of town matches will be played on Sundays. The launch took place at the Netball House in Kingston on Friday March 7.
The six teams are Manchester Spurs, Kingston Hummingbirds, St. James Sharps, Clarendon Gaters, St. Catherine Racers and St. Ann Orchids. The coaches for the teams are Karlene Graham, Sylvester Campbell, Jennifer Brown (Shaggy), C. Lloyd Walker, Christopher Smart and Valerie Blake respectively.
The assistant coaches were selected by lottery. They are Christopher Pierrea, Vance Golding, Phyllis Thompson, Donovan Leon, Natacia Nembhard and Sasha Blake.
The players for the six teams were also selected by means of a lottery. They include well known national players as well as past national players. According to Netball Jamaica they are among the best netballers in the island. Some of the seventy-two selected players are Malysha Kelly, Vangelee Williams, Chantal Slater, Shameera Sterling, Sabrina Spence, Paula Thompson, Nadine Bryan, Nicole Aiken-Pinnock, Elaine Davis. Twelve players were selected for each of the six teams.
The teams’ gears were modeled as per the team colours. The colours for the teams are Manchester Spurs – grey and red, Kingston Humming Birds – pink and white, St. James Sharpes – burgundy and yellow, Clarendon Gaters – red and blue, St. Catherine Racers – blue and dark blue and St. Ann Orchids – purple and yellow. Newly designed team logos were also released.
Berger is the title sponsor for the league this year. Marketing Manager Trevor Lloyd who spoke at the launch said that his company was happy to continue its sponsorship of netball in Jamaica and especially the new league which, based on the reactions of those present had the makings of an exciting competition.
Marva Bernard, NJ president said that this is indeed the start of a new day for netball as it moves closer to a semi-pro league in the near future. This year they were not able to attract the funding required to run a that type of competition but expects to do so once companies see the success of the newly launched league.
Dr. Paula Daley-Morris who spearheaded the steering committed that organized this year’s league said that though the league is not a fully semi pro one, payments will be made to some persons while the netballers on scholarships will be assisted with out of pocket expenses. This will be done in order to maintain their scholarship status.
Coach C Lloyd Walker said that training will begin next week for his team – Clarendon Gaters to get them ready for competition as well as to get them to be comfortable playing with each other. He said that he expects his team to do well in the competition under the new format.
Tashane Williams of Manchester Spurs expressed excitement at the new format while saying that she was looking forward to working with a new set of players. She also said that she expected her team to do well.
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