The Cayman Islands national netball team has arrived in Grenada, where they are set to compete in the 5th Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) International Netball Series.
The tournament, which runs from 23-31 Aug., promises a week of intense competition and a valuable opportunity for the team to test their skills against a wide range of regional opponents.
Comprising a blend of seasoned veterans and promising young talent, the Cayman team is feeling confident and well-prepared for the challenge ahead.
Head coach Lyneth Monteith said the team is really excited to return to the tournament for the third consecutive year.
She said she has high expectations for her squad to do their best, noting that their rigorous training regimen – which focused heavily on fitness – began in January of this year.
Monteith emphasised the importance of fitness for this tournament as the team will be facing a demanding schedule of playing nine games in nine days.
“We’ve concentrated a lot this year on fitness, because I believe if you’re fit, the rest comes into play. Our players are quite experienced, so the skills and the strategies aren’t the issue,” Monteith said.
Katherine Gow, Cayman’s captain, echoed Monteith, saying, “We’ve had a strength and conditioning programme which has been really good, so I think in terms of physical shape, we’re doing really well, and we’re in [much] better shape than we were last time.”
Gow believes the team’s biggest asset is their patience with the ball, a quality they’ve honed by playing together for a long time.
She added that the team has exceptional strength across the court, with accurate shooters who perform well under pressure, a mid-court with impressive stamina and significant height in defence.
“We’ve got some tactics up our sleeve, and I think when we put all that together, we’re kind of a force to be reckoned with,” she said.
Shelley Webster, a physiotherapist with the Health Services Authority, will be supporting the team with injury prevention, recovery and any potential injuries during their busy schedule.
Cayman is a part of the visiting-team contingent alongside Barbados and Guyana who are looking to improve their international netball rankings.
Adding to the roster are seven teams from ECCB member countries – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – vying for the Gloria Ballantyne Championship trophy.
This year’s tournament boasts the largest number of teams since its inception in 2019.
During last year’s tournament, Cayman won four of eight matches, but Gow says she’d like for the Cayman squad to take at least five or six wins this time around.
With experience under their belt, Gow said, “There’s a few new teams in there, so we’re … probably [one of the] more experienced teams, so I think that we’ve got that in our favour.”
Cayman’s first match is against Barbados on 23 Aug., a game that had Monteith saying, “We’re right in the thick of things. It will be stiff competition, but I think the players are up to the competition.”
Over the following days, from 24-28 Aug., Cayman will take on Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, Guyana and host nation Grenada.
The latter part of their schedule, from 29-31 Aug., consists of matches against Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and a final showdown with Saint Lucia, which beat them last year, a result that Gow is hoping to flip.
“We came out narrowly with a loss in our last game to Saint Lucia, which was a bit of a disappointment for us, so that’s probably set our fire a bit. We want to make sure we beat them,” Gow said.
Separate from the matches, netball players and officials will attend a personal development session called ‘Linking Sustainability and Netball’, which will be facilitated by Steve Maximay, a climate change expert and media advisor.
