Birmingham, England – The Sunshine Girls’ historic silver-medal performance at the recently concluded 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham has given Netball Jamaica President Tricia Robinson hope that corporate Jamaica will begin to support the sport in a more meaningful way.
The Jamaicans were fan favorites inside the National Exhibition Centre Arena over the two weeks and they never disappointed as they strolled through the Pool A group stage beating world number one Australia 57-55 in the top-of-the-table clash in the final group stage match, a first for the Sunshine Girls at this competition.
They lost the gold medal match 51-55 to Australia, but not before chalking up another first, annihilating world champions New Zealand 67-51, making it the first time that a team had beaten both the number one and number two ranked teams in the same competition.
But they had signaled their intentions from early with a high-quality play which was well appreciated by the sell-out crowds which gathered on each session.
“Everybody loves a winner, they know this team has performed consistently over the years, it is the most successful team sport in doing well all the time, and so yes, we are expecting corporate Jamaica to come on board with us,” a hopeful Robinson told CNW Network.
She added: “We are happy that more people understand that they play without pay and so we encourage corporate Jamaica to come on board to support them. It’s very important, so imagine, we are doing so well with not so much, the possibilities when we get a lot more.”
Robinson, who took the reins of the local governing body, Netball Jamaica, in February 2020, said that her marketing team has been working behind the scenes approaching corporate Jamaica on a one-on-one basis, which has borne fruits in recent times, with Beryllium joining as lead sponsor, as well as Wray and Nephew over the past few days.
The calm, soft-spoken Robinson just could not contain the joy of the team’s brilliance on the court.
“I am super excited for the team, they made history when they entered the semi-finals of the competition, they had never done it before and so we are proud of them.
“It wasn’t our night to get the gold but they made history nonetheless by playing for the gold and so they can go only one step higher for the next Commonwealth Games.”
The number four ranked Sunshine Girls opened the Games with a comprehensive 72-43 win over Wales, then followed up with a facile 68-49 win over the number five ranked team, South Africa, before a huge 103-24 win over Caribbean neighbors Barbados.
That was followed by a 78-34 win over Scotland, ahead of the group clash against Australia, when they came from six goals down at the end of the third quarter to stage a magnificent rally to emerge victorious.
For such outstanding performances, Robinson said, “It speaks about possibilities, we are number four in the world, we are aiming to be number one in the world and to be number one in the world you must play the best in the world, and we have been doing a pretty good job of that, aren’t we?
“It speaks of the grit, the determination and the pride the ladies have of putting on the black, green and gold and representing their country.”
The senior netballers will head to the World Cup next summer and Robinson has one aim, and one aim only. “We would like to go in and be champions at the end of the tournament, to be champions does take a lot of resources and so we are asking corporate Jamaica to come and support.”
