Sunshine Girls have Fowler-Reid doubts

Interim coach of Jamaica's Sunshine Girls Sasher-Gaye Henry said she is not sure if goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid will be able to represent the country at this month's Fast5 World Netball Series in Melbourne, Australia, despite the player making a late request to participate in the tournament.

Fowler-Reid, a student at The Mico University, indicated to the Sunshine Girls coaching staff last month that she would only be available for the Caribbean Netball Championships and not the Fast5 Series as both tournaments would be held in the same month, which would have caused her to miss a number of classes at school.

The Caribbean tournament, which was scheduled for October 8-16 in St Lucia was cancelled last month, due to the unavailability of some of the teams and Fowler-Reid has since indicated her willingness to represent the country in the Fast5 competition.

However, Henry told The Gleaner in an interview that Fowler-Reid's named was not on the original list of players that was sent to the International Netball Federation (INF) for Fast5 and so it is going to very difficult to now add her to it.

"I cannot confirm if Fowler will be there yes or no," said Henry yesterday. "There was an issue with her going to the Fast5 based on the fact that she is attending school because she had missed a complete term last year, as she was on an overseas contract in New Zealand and so she indicated that she would not be able to compete at both tours in the same month."

"The sticking situation is that the team has not been named as yet, but we have sent a list to (INF) and they have it and so we just can't change it," she said.

Henry added: "It will be good for her go now, but the fact is that she wasn't on the original list that was sent up to the International Netball Federation, we will be see how things go now."

Fowler-Reid, who represented the Southern Steel in the ANZ Championships last season, is a third-year student at The Mico University College, studying guidance and counselling.

GOOD CHANCE

Henry pointed out that there is still a good chance that Fowler-Reid could still be added to the Sunshine Girls team due to the fact that three players who were on the original list which was sent to INF were last week denied visas by the US Embassy in Kingston. They are Shantal Slater, Shameera Sterling and Jodiann Ward.

"We are having some visas issues but we can't just change the name and put in other players because we have to get the go ahead from INF because we sent the names to them already, and Fowler wasn't on this list," said Henry.

"This is affecting the team because of the fact that a lot of players were unavailable and these players that are available have been working hard in training and so it is a little disappointing for them."

The 27-year-old Fowler-Reid last represented the Sunshine Girls against England in the United Kingdom in November 2016. The Sunshine Girls are already without shooter Romelda Aiken, who will miss both tournaments due to unspecified reasons.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com