Sunshine Girls bow into action tonight
JAMAICA’S SUNSHINE Girls will bow into action at the Fast5 World Series in Melbourne, Australia when they take on South Africa tomorrow at 1:45 p.m, (9:45 tonight Jamaica time).
The Girls will also face hosts Australia and Malawi on the opening day of competition.
Jamaica finished fifth in last year’s tournament, which was also held in Australia. However, interim coach Sasher-Gaye Henry told The Gleaner from her base in Melbourne yesterday, that she is confident that they will do much better this time.
READY TO GO
“They have settled in nicely, but maybe just a few players not sleeping throughout the nights because of the time difference, but they are high-spirited, and I believe that they are all raring and ready to go,” said Henry.
“I am pretty confident that the girls will do well and if they do well, then we are expecting great things from them,” she said.
However, she stated that she was not pleased with the team’s preparations entering the championships because a number of the girls were absent from training due to school and work commitments.
“We tried to prepare as much as we can, but the only thing is that when we did our simulation, it was not specific to the time that they will play because the girls were working and they had school,” said Henry.
“But we are not focusing on that because our main focus is getting through the games one by one with adequate recovery time in between games and analysing the teams before we take them on,” she said.
“We are just trying to get them to work as hard as they can and to ensure that they are making the right decisions on the court,” Henry said.
THE TEAM
The Sunshine Girls will be led by experienced goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, who is set to play in the Australian Suncorp League next season. The team also includes veterans Malysha Kelly and Paula Thompson.
Also in the squad is newcomer Shimona Nelson, who is a member of the Jamaica Under21 team that participated in this year’s World Youth Championships in Botswana. The other members of the squad are Stacian Facey, Vangelee Williams, Shanice Beckford, Rebekah Robinson, Adean Thomas, and Khadijah Williams.