High-school netball resumes on Tuesday
Published:Sunday | March 6, 2022 | 12:12 AMRobert Bailey - Gleaner Writer
AFTER MORE than a two-year absence, the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) netball competition is scheduled to resume next Tuesday with a full slate of matches in the urban- and rural-area senior division competitions across the country.
The competition will see 15 teams from the urban area taking part, while 16 teams from rural Jamaica will compete in the championships. Norman Manley are defending urban area champions while Denbigh are the reigning rural area winners from 2019.
Keith Wellington, president of ISSA, says his organisation was delighted that the schoolgirl netball competition was finally going to get going.
“We are happy that the kids are getting back to a semblance of normalcy in the different aspects of their lives, and we are sure that sports have a lot to contribute in terms of their well-being. So we are also happy that they are getting back into sports,” said Wellington.
He also pointed out that the ISSA netball competition plays a vital role in the development of players for the national teams.
“We understand the role that the schools play in the development of the kids as individuals,” Wellington said.
“We also appreciate the value of these programmes to the national programmes, and so I am certain that everybody is happy that the national programmes will have that support again from the school system,” he said.
VACCINATED ATHLETES TO COMPETE
Wellington pointed out that only fully vaccinated athletes would be allowed to compete in the tournament.
Tricia Robinson, president of Netball Jamaica, said the absence of the high-school competitions over the past two years had certainly affected the development of the sport, and therefore they are happy that they are going to resume next week.
“We are very excited about the resumption of the schoolgirl league and it augers well for development in Jamaica,” said Robinson.
“It is a feeder to the national programmes for our development squad and for our senior squad and it is good that they are going back on court this year,” she said.