The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Netball team is into its defence of the Caribbean Netball Championship in Trinidad.
The tournament opened yesterday Thursday with the Vincentians against northern neighbours St. Lucia.{{more}}
The tournament winds up August 9. The Vincentian contingent left here yesterday but its composition was not without controversy.
The team is Gailene Gordon, Skiddy Francis-Crick, Geshell Peters, Nicole Sandy; shooters Marilyn Browne, Saska Diamond, Leanna Lewis, Nyasha Williams (centre court/utility); with Jacintha Adams, Madonna Hickson, Sancho Lyttle and Juliette Taylor, defence.
The management team is Dellarice Duncan, Godfrey Harr, and Laferne Millington. Umpires for the Caribbean Netball Association pool are Michelle Guy and Anthony Jack. The CNA officials are Gloria Ballantyne and Sonja Lewis.
However, one former national player is furious over her omission.
Joanna Christopher was Most Valuable Player when the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Club Championship ended here early June. Christopher, from the central Leeward town of Layou, inspired C & R Enterprises Sion Hill to the OECS Club Championship. She is a versatile player known for her work in defence and as goal shoot.
“I feel mashed up,” she said. Christopher played for the Under-23 squad from age 14 and grafted her way into the
national squad as a teenager. She rose to national duties and gained selection to the West Indies team.
She was confident of retaining her place in the West Indies squad. She confessed that she trained hard for the tournament, and sacrificed time from a business she recently opened to attend practice.
“I was certain I would have made the West Indies again,” Christopher moaned.
She views the situation as a “cook up.
“Why they have to throw me off at the best time of my life? This is the thanks that they gave me,” she sighed.