Althea Mc­Collin was re­cent­ly ap­point­ed coach of the se­nior na­tion­al net­ball team by the T&T Net­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNA) for the Tri-Se­ries in Ja­maica, lat­er this year. The Tri-Se­ries will fea­ture hosts Ja­maica and South Africa.

Mc­Collin, moth­er of net­ball in­ter­na­tion­al net­baller Kali­fa Mc­Collin, will be as­sist­ed by for­mer na­tion­al net­ball de­fend­er Kem­ba Dun­can. Ashelle Legall, an­oth­er for­mer na­tion­al se­nior play­er, will serve as man­ag­er.

Last year, both Mc­Collin, who was the "Ca­lyp­so Girls" as­sis­tant coach back in 2012 and na­tion­al youth coach, and Dun­can were named coach­es of the na­tion­al Un­der-21 team for the World Net­ball Youth Cup Qual­i­fiers which was first de­layed due to the coro­n­avirus (COVID-19) pan­dem­ic be­fore it was can­celled by World Net­ball, then called the In­ter­na­tion­al Net­ball Fed­er­a­tion (INF).

In June, TTNA pres­i­dent Sher­ry Ann Black­burn con­firmed that the se­ries is sched­uled to take place in Oc­to­ber and added that the team will be boost­ed by T&T in­ter­na­tion­als Saman­tha Wal­lace and Mc­Collin, who are cur­rent­ly com­pet­ing in Aus­tralia's Sun­corp Su­per Net­ball (SSN) League.

Goal-shoot­er Wal­lace has been star­ring for the New South Wales Swifts in her fifth sea­son, lead­ing her team to to­day's SSN League Grand fi­nal ver­sus Gi­ants from 12.30 am (T&T time). Mc­Collin, a goal-at­tack spe­cial­ist, made her de­but this sea­son with the Colling­wood Mag­pies. Her team fin­ished in sixth place.

Lo­cal play­ers re­sumed train­ing in mid-April un­der an in­ter­im coach­ing staff in­clud­ing coach Joel Young-Strong, as­sis­tant coach Vel­ma Hazel­wood, train­er Wayne Samuel and man­ag­er Coreen David. Young-Strong, an in­ter­na­tion­al um­pire will now serve as Over­sight.

Now with the na­tion­al tech­ni­cal staff ap­point­ments the T&T net­ballers have been con­tin­u­ing prepa­ra­tion to face the World's No 4-ranked Ja­maican "Sun­shine Girls" and the No 5-ranked South Africans.

The na­tion­al squad trains three days per week at three venues. On Mon­days, Wednes­days and Thurs­days, the Trinidad-based play­ers will train at the Mal­oney Re­gion­al In­door Sports Are­na from 3.30 pm to 7 pm un­der the guid­ance of head coach Mc­Collin and in To­ba­go at the Shaw Park Hard Court on Tues­days and Wednes­days and Mt Gomery Hard Courts on Sat­ur­days. These ses­sions are car­ried on by as­sis­tant coach Dun­can.

Na­tion­al tech­ni­cal staff

Althea Mc Collin (coach), Kem­ba Dun­can (as­sis­tant coach), Ashelle Legall (man­ag­er), Jevon Fon­cette (phys­io­ther­a­pist), Dr Liza Mo­han-Watts (psy­chol­o­gist), Demitri Vil­lo­re­al (mas­sage ther­a­pist), Olivia La Plat­te (COVID li­ai­son of­fi­cer), An­gel Ot­t­ley (train­er), Joel Young-Strong (Over­sight).