NHT lead Jamaican contingent at Florida Classics

OVER 20 club teams from Jamaica will be in South Florida this weekend, as the 28th staging of the Florida Netball Classics will be held over two days, starting Saturday inside the Coral Springs Gymnasium in Fort Lauderdale.

As usual, teams from Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Island, New Zealand and the United States will be in action over both days of competition.

Business House queens, National Housing Trust (NHT), which ­dominated the local league this season with their senior team going unbeaten, will lead the local charge once again. They will be entering two teams as their ‘B’ unit, which was beaten in the Business House Senior ‘B’ finals by Jamaica National (JN), will also be on show.

The Christopher Smart-coached Senior ‘A’ team, which is made up of several present and past national players, will be hoping for a three-peat at the competition.

Two years ago they defeated Scotiabank ‘A’ in the final, while last year they scored a narrow one goal victory over a legend team, which included the likes of Connie Francis, Oberon Pitterson, Elaine Davis and Nadine Bryan. For the second year in a row the Scotiabank team will be absent, and with the legend team not competing this time around, it could be smooth sailing for the NHT contingent.

Upsetters from the United States along with Appliance Traders Limited (ATL) and the JN team will pose the biggest threat to the defending champions.

After winning the consolation final two years ago and finishing second last year, the Jennifer ‘Jenny Jenny’ Small-led RJRGLEANER Group team will be hoping for another good showing once again at the Classics.