Coach wants the best Rokoura urges local netball players to step up
FIJI Pearls head coach Unaisi Rokoura has laid down the challenge to local players ahead of the World Cup in June.
Rokoura said it was a very important year for Netball Fiji as it was a World Cup year.
“We’ve started with the expression of interest for overseas base players and we’ve received a lot of players who have shown interest,” Rokoura said.
“This has indicated to us that they are available to play for Fiji in the World Cup, we want the best players and if the best players are coming out of Fiji then we will go with that.
“This is a big challenge to our local players and this is something that they will work on if they want to make it to the World Cup squad.
“What used to happen before is that players think they were in it because of the lack of number of players but it’s going to change.
“To the players who had attended our training program, they have shown us that they want to be part of the program and we will invest in them and keep them in the program.”
She said the training program was very important and the players who wanted to be part of it needed to understand that they were not taking things lightly.
“It’s either they come on board and be part of us, or like I said, we’ve got the expression of interest coming in and we will tap into that platform.
“To the players who have shown interest, we have confirmed two camps for this month and February.
“This will the allow opportunity for overseas-based players to come down to the country and be seen by our national selectors.
“It’s a big training camp and the first phase of our selection process.
“Once we complete camp, we will put together a World Cup squad and allow the opportunity in February for the players coming from the UK for trials.”