Sunshine Girls may return to court this week
Published:Thursday | October 1, 2020 | 12:11 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
President of Netball Jamaica (NJ) Tricia Robinson says that her organisation is feeling a lot more confident that the Sunshine Girls will be allowed to return to the training courts soon, with the expectation of protocol approvals this week.
The Sunshine Girls, who have been training virtually, are desperate to return to the courts as they continue their preparations for their upcoming three-Test series against rivals England in December. The highly anticipated series will be played at the Copper Box Arena in London, England, from December 1-6.
“Having written to the ministry (Ministry of Sports), they have advised us that our protocols are now with the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” said Robinson. “We anticipate that before the close of this week, we would have gotten the go-ahead for the girls to be on court, given the tight timeline that we are working with.”
“I am really hoping that they will be on court together training by this weekend because it is imperative based on the stage of training that they are at now, and so we are just waiting for them to be on court,” Robinson added.
The NJ boss underscored that her organisation has been closely monitoring the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Jamaica and would be putting in place all the measures to ensure that the protocols are adhered to by everyone once they return to the training courts.
“The numbers of confirmed cases have been really telling on our economy, and so we have to play our part in safeguarding our athletes, and so we have to ensure that what we put in the protocols is what we say we will do and expect some support from the Government in this,” Robinson said.
The Sunshine Girls are ranked fourth in the world, one place below England in the standings. The winners of the series will receive ranking points.
“This series is massive for us. The girls are anxious to be on court, and the entire coaching staff is also very anxious to get out on the court,” said Robinson.