T&T in­ter­na­tion­als Saman­tha Wal­lace and Kali­fa Mc­Collin will serve as co-cap­tains as they lead the T&T se­nior net­ballers at the Tri-Se­ries in Ja­maica, from Oc­to­ber 9-12.

On Thurs­day, the team was an­nounced by the T&T Net­ball As­so­ci­a­tion to face the Ja­maican "Sun­shine Girls" and South Africa and the "Ca­lyp­so Girls" will be coached by Althea Mc­Collin, the moth­er of Kali­fa. She will be as­sist­ed by for­mer na­tion­al net­ball de­fend­er Kem­ba Dun­can. Ashelle Legall, an­oth­er for­mer na­tion­al se­nior play­er, will serve as man­ag­er.

Wal­lace is com­ing off a suc­cess­ful sea­son with the New South Wales Swifts win­ning her sec­ond ti­tle in her fifth sea­son in Aus­tralia's Sun­corp Su­per Net­ball (SSN) League. She was named the Swifts' "Most Valu­able Play­er" (MVP) for her per­for­mance this sea­son.

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.

The T&T net­ballers have been prepar­ing to face the World's No 4-ranked Ja­maica 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.

TTNA pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer Abeni Tay­lor, when con­tact­ed re­cent­ly by Guardian Me­dia, said: "Train­ing is go­ing well. We are work­ing as­sid­u­ous­ly to­wards our first in­ter­na­tion­al game since the oc­cur­rence of COVID."

She con­firmed that the team will leave on Oc­to­ber 6.

Team:

Saman­tha Wal­lace (co-cap­tain), Kali­fa Mc­Collin (co-cap­tain), Jameela Mc­Carthy, Afeisha Noel, Oprah Dou­glas, Tia Bruno, Janeisha Cas­simy, Des­tiny Williams, Shaquan­da Greene-Noel, Ane­i­cia Bap­tiste, Crys­tal-Ann George, Jere­sia McEachrane.

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).

Sched­ule

Oct 9: Ja­maica vs T&T, 6 pm

Oct 11: T&T vs South Africa, 6 pm

Oct 13: Ja­maica vs T&T, 6 pm

Oct 16: South Africa vs T&T, 6 pm