National Under-21 netball coach Rhonda John-Davis is not thrilled that her team failed to cop the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) title, but is happy that the local side achieved the ultimate goal of progressing to next year's Netball Youth World Cup carded to take place in Botswana.
"I am not satisfied with second place finish," said John-Davis yesterday. "But I am very proud of the girls for qualifying for the World Cup."
On Sunday in St Maarten, the junior "Calypso Girls" faced off against Barbados in the title decider and came up short, suffering a narrow two-goal (50-48) defeat in an intense encounter which turned out to be the most thrilling match of the seven-team tournament.
"It's not that they did not play well but crucial errors resulted in the loss. The most important thing though is that we qualified and for that I am proud of them," said the former national senior captain.
The T&T team, which entered the AFNA Qualifiers as the top seed, ninth in world netball, had a relatively easy ride through the round-robin competition, easily knocking off Canada (69-9) in its opening match, followed by Argentina (87-4), St Maarten (72-12), St Kitts and Nevis (68-35) and Grenada (52-28), respectively.
"We went in there with a very inexperienced team and they stood up to the challenge," said John-Davis, who was assisted by another former senior national player Kemba Duncan. "They were able to execute the game plan so all in all, I am pleased with the effort they put in."
The local side was captained by Kalifa McCollin and she was supported by vice-captain Jeneisha Cassimy. Two players which John-Davis declared stood out during the seven-day competition as well as Shaniece Seemungal and Shaquanda Greene.
"Kalifa was on a next level. She did very well leading the team. I must commend Cassimy for her versability on the court. She played every position that was asked of her and she fulfilled all that was required of her. Shaniece performed well in the centre-court and Shaquanda was vital in defence for us."
McCollin partnered with six-footer Jameela McCathy in the circle and they scored the bulk of T&T's goals throughout the competition. Overall, McCarthy netted with 149 goals from 173 attempts and McCollin, 98 off 110 tries. Tiana Dillon (42/69) and Tahirah Hollingsworth (38/70) were the other shooters used.
Second-placed T&T, champion Barbados and third-placed Grenada, move on to the World Cup set to unfold in the city of Gaborone. The Caribbean trio will join 11 other teams that have already qualified from New Zealand, Australia, Caribbean neighbour Jamaica, England, host Botswana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda. Next will be the Oceania Qualifiers next month and finally the European Qualifiers in October.
The quality of teams that T&T will meet in Botswana will of course be at a higher grade and coach John-Davis is quite aware of this.
She said, "We know the level of play at the World Cup will be higher that is expected. The team showed what their strengths are and we used that to our advantage but we know we have work to do."
Unfortunately, John-Davis will not have the services of some key players as they will be over the age limit come next year for the World U-21 tournament.
"We will not have Kalifa, Jameela and Shaquanda so we definitely have to get to work and see how best we can be ready for the World Cup in Botswana next year," said the national youth coach.
The players will get some two weeks off to rest and recuperate and will restart training on Septmeber 14 according to John-Davis.