JOA donates bus to Sunshine Girls
The President of Netball Jamaica ( NJ), Tricia Robinson, has expressed gratitude to the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) for providing them with a Coaster bus to transport the Sunshine Girls.
This ‘Good Samaritan’ act was effected yesterday by the island’s governing body for sports, after NJ’s two Coaster buses were stolen from Netball House in St Andrew in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The Toyota Coaster buses, used to transport the national netball teams to and from training and matches, were said to be stripped of their decals before they were removed from the premises.
Robinson told STAR Sports that a number of other entities have also offered assistance to her association, which oversees the affairs of female’s most popular sport in the country.
“We are appreciative of their assistance,” said Robinson, who noted that more help is forthcoming.
“... Stewart’s Automotive is also assisting us,” she said.
“It will help to ease some of the constraints on us in terms of travelling, but we want back our buses,” said the NJ boss. “There is nothing like your own and so we want back our buses.”
Continuing, Robinson revealed “This bus that they (JOA) has given us will be used to pick up and drop off the players to and from training.”
Robert Scott, second vicepresident, JOA, said they were very disheartened to hear of NJ’s losses.
“From our sponsorship from Toyota, we have a bus and our sponsors and our CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Ryan Foster, has made it available for the transportation of these athletes and so we have stepped in there,” said Scott.
ROBBING AND KILLING
“We immediately responded when we heard because it is regrettable and it also speaks to us as a nation that if we can be robbing and killing people in churches then it says a lot about us,” he said.
Scott pointed out that the JOA stands ready to assist other sporting bodies that may fall in the same situation as the NJ.
“We will continue to work with what we have and we will continue to provide relief support and care for those associations so affected,” he noted.
The buses that were stolen were donated to NJ by the Jamaica Public Service and FLOW. Both were comprehensively insured.