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All set for AFNA Champion of Champions Netball

Published:Thursday | July 12, 2018 | 12:00 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Kenyon Hemans
Marva Bernard (centre), chairman of the Local Organising Committee of this year’s inaugural staging of the Americas Federation of Netball Associations Champion of Champions High Schools Netball Tournament, with Christopher Smart (left), head coach of Excelsior High,and Kayla Keith-Wilson, coach for Scarborough Secondary in Trinidad and Tobago, at yesterday's launch of the championship. The function was held at the Sports Development Foundation office in Kingston.

Marva Bernard, chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of this year's inaugural staging of the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Champion of Champions High Schools Netball Tournament, says all is in place for this weekend's start of the championships.

The championships is set to begin on Sunday at the Leila Robinson Courts with four matches.

Speaking at yesterday's launch of the championships, which was held at the Sports Development Foundation office in Kingston, Bernard said the LOC has worked assiduously in securing sponsorship for the championships.

"Getting this sponsorship was never easy, but netball is a good product and you have to sell it and the development nature of this tournament is what the sponsors like about it," said Bernard.

"The Sunshine Girls are our flagship and this is where it all begins and so now we want to make sure that we have people in the stands watching," she said. There is no flagship sponsor for the championship. The organisers have received donations from several companies.

Bernard, a former president of Netball Jamaica added that the total cost of hosting the championship is $9 million.

"I am looking forward to the start of the tournament because a lot of work has gone into it and up to last week another sponsor came on board to assist us," she said.

 

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

 

The countries that will be represented at this year's championships are Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Jamaica will be represented by Excelsior High School and Holmwood Technical.

Holmwood have been drawn in Pool A alongside Dominica State College (Dominica), Christchurch Foundation (Barbados), Scarborough Secondary (Trinidad & Tobago) and Micoud Secondary (St Lucia).

On the other hand, Excelsior will compete in Pool B with Toco Secondary (Trinidad and Tobago), Springer Memorial (Barbados), Soufriere Secondary (St Lucia), and Anglican High (Grenada). The competition will be in a round-robin format within the pools, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the semi-finals of the competition.