Jamaica national netball team

National netball team

Jamaica

Nickname(s)| Sunshine Girls
Association| Netball Jamaica
Confederation| AFNA (Americas)
Head coach| Marvette Anderson
Sasher-Gaye Henry
Captain| Jhaniele Fowler-Reid
Vice-captain| Paula Thompson
Most caps| Nadine Bryan (159)
World ranking| 3

Team colours

Alternate

|

Netball World Cup
Appearances| 15 (Debuted in 1963)
2019 placing| 5th
Best result| 3rd (1991, 2003, 2007, 2023)
Commonwealth Games
Appearances| 7 (Debuted in 1998)
2018 placing| 2nd
Best result| 2nd (Netball at the 2022 Commonwealth Games)

The Jamaica national netball team, commonly known as the Sunshine Girls, represent Jamaica in international netball competitions. Netball is the number one women's sport and the number one team sport in Jamaica, and the majority of the schools in Jamaica participate.[1] Netball receives full media coverage on television, radio and in newspapers but does not get as much coverage as less successful team sports such as football and cricket.[2] Jamaica were coached by former representative Oberon Pitterson and captained by midcourt veteran Nadine Bryan until the end of 2013. In early 2014, a Technical Director (Jill McIntosh) and new coach (Minneth Reynolds) were appointed. As of 1 July 2020, Jamaica are fourth in the INF World Rankings.[3] The senior Jamaican netball team is widely known as the Sunshine Girls; the Jamaican Fast 5 netball team is known as Jamaica Fast5 or the FAST5 Girls.[4][5][6][7][8]

## History

[edit]

Netball in Jamaican schools started in 1909. In 1959, the Jamaica Netball Association was formed and affiliated with the West Indies Netball Board. Jamaica was invited to compete at the 1959 West Indies Tournament held in August in Montserrat.[9]

Since their debut international game in 1959, the Sunshine Girls have participated in every INF Netball World Cup, never finishing below sixth. Jamaica placed third in three World Championships – in 1991, 2003 and 2007.[1] They have played in all six Commonwealth Games netball events to date, winning a bronze medal in 2002 in Manchester, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland and 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia.

Pitterson was appointed the new head coach for the Sunshine Girls at the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore.[10] Longstanding captain Simone Forbes did not attend the World Championships after testing positive the banned substance Clomiphene and was replaced by Nadine Bryan.[11][12] Forbes subsequently retired, ending her illustrious career.[13][14][15][16][17] After failing to medal in 2011, some of the experienced players on the squad decided to take a break from the national team, while Althea Byfield chose to retire, as they had grown disgruntled with embattled coach Pitterson.[15][18][19][20][21] Malysha Kelly & Romelda Aiken took over co-captaining duties at the 2013 Fast5 tournament and Kelly continued to captain the team in the first half of 2014.[22][23][24][25] Nicole Aiken-Pinnock took over as captain ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and also captained them at the 2015 Netball World Cup.[26][27] The team has since won bronze medals in both the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, with the latter medal having been won against two-time gold medallists New Zealand.

## Players

[edit]

### 2022 squad

[edit]

The current squad was selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[28][29]

Jamaica national netball team roster

Players | Coaches
| Name | Pos | DOB | Height | Club | Nat | Caps

|
|
|
|
|
|

Jhaniele Fowler (c) | GS  | 21 July 1989  | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)  | West Coast Fever |  |
Shimona Nelson | GS  | 1 December 1998  | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)  | Melbourne Mavericks |  |
Shanice Beckford | GA, WA  | 16 April 1995  | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)  | West Coast Fever |  |
Rebekah Robinson | GA  | 23 January 1995  | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)  |  |  |
Khadijah Williams | WA, C  | 29 December 1994  | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)  |  |  |
Nicole Dixon-Rochester | C, WA  | 3 February 1995  | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)  |  |  |
Adean Thomas | C, WA, WD  | 31 July 1994  | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)  |  |  |
Shadian Hemmings | WD, C, WA  | 9 November 1990  | –  |  |  |
Jodi-Ann Ward | WD, GD  | 1 September 1994  | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)  | Giants Netball |  |
Latanya Wilson | GD, WD  | 10 November 2000  | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)  | Adelaide Thunderbirds |  |
Shamera Sterling | GK, GD  | 21 October 1995  | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)  | Adelaide Thunderbirds |  |
Kadie-Ann Dehaney | GK, GD  | 4 September 1996  | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)  | West Coast Fever |  |

Head coach

* Vacant

* * *

Notes

* (c) - Captain
* (cc) - Co-captain
* (vc) - Vice-captain
* - Injury / maternity leave
* (TRP) - Temporary Replacement Player

Player profiles: Team website | Last updated: 5 August 2022

### Notable past players

[edit]

* Connie Francis
* Elaine Davis
* Simone Forbes
* Carla Borrego
* Oberon Pitterson
* Romelda Aiken-George

### Most-capped Jamaican netballers

[edit]

Name | Test Caps | Test Team Years

|
|

Nadine Bryan | 159[30][31][32] | 1996–2014
Oberon Pitterson | 120+ | 1988–2006
Connie Francis | 120+ | 1985–1999, 2003
Georgia Gordon | 110 | 1994–2005, 2010
Simone Forbes | 102 | 2000–2011
Elaine Davis | 91[33] | 1995–2007[33]
Nichala Gibson | 79 | 2000–2009
Kasey Evering | 78 | 2002–2011, 2012, 2014
Nicole Aiken-Pinnock | 78 | 2005–2011, 2014–present
Sasher-Gaye Henry | 75 | 1996–1997, 2006–2011, 2014–2015[34][35][36]
Romelda Aiken | 74 | 2005–present

## Competitive history

[edit]

Netball World Cup

Year  | Championship  | Location  | Placing
1963 | 1st World Championships | Eastbourne, England  | 5th
1967 | 2nd World Championships | Perth, Australia  | 6th
1971 | 3rd World Championships | Kingston, Jamaica  | 4th
1975 | 4th World Championships | Auckland, New Zealand  | 5th
1979 | 5th World Championships | Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago  | 5th
1983 | 6th World Championships | Singapore  | 5th
1987 | 7th World Championships | Glasgow, Scotland  | 5th
1991 | 8th World Championships | Sydney  |  3rd
1995 | 9th World Championships | Birmingham, England  | 5th
1999 | 10th World Championships | Christchurch, New Zealand  | 4th
2003 | 11th World Championships | Kingston, Jamaica  |  3rd
2007 | 12th World Championships | Auckland, New Zealand  |  3rd
2011 | 13th World Championships | Singapore  | 4th
2015 | 14th World Cup | Sydney, Australia  | 4th
2019 | 15th World Cup | Liverpool, England  | 5th
2023 | 16th World Cup | Cape Town, South Africa  |  3rd
Netball at the Commonwealth Games

Year  | Games  | Event  | Location  | Placing
1998 | XVI Games | 1st Netball | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  | 4th
2002 | XVII Games | 2nd Netball | Manchester, England  |  3rd
2006 | XVIII Games | 3rd Netball | Melbourne, Australia  | 4th
2010 | XIX Games | 4th Netball | Delhi, India  | 4th
2014 | XX Games | 5th Netball | Glasgow, Scotland  |  3rd
2018 | XXI Games | 6th Netball | Gold Coast, Australia |  3rd
2022 | XXII Games | 7th Netball | Birmingham, Australia |  2nd
Fast5 World Netball Series (formerly Fastnet)

Year  | Tournament  | Location  | Placing
2009 | 1st World Series | Manchester, England  |  2nd
2010 | 2nd World Series | Liverpool, England  |  3rd
2011 | 3rd World Series | Liverpool, England  | 4th
2012 | 4th World Series | Auckland, New Zealand  | 4th
2013 | 5th World Series | Auckland, New Zealand  |  3rd
2014 | 6th World Series | Auckland, New Zealand  | 4th
2016 | 7th World Series | Melbourne, Australia  | 5th
2017 | 8th World Series | Melbourne, Australia  |  2nd
2018 | 9th World Series | Melbourne, Australia  |  2nd
2022 | 10th World Series | Christchurch, New Zealand  | 6th
2023 | 11th World Series | Christchurch, New Zealand  | 5th

## Kit suppliers

[edit]

Jamaica's kits are currently supplied by Gilbert.

## See also

[edit]

* CWG 2002 Results
* CWG 2006 SSG Roster
* Jamaican netball players

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Rules of the Sun". True.
2. ^ "Netball and field hockey". Jamaicans.com. 22 March 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
3. ^ "Current World Rankings". International Netball Federation.
4. ^ "Netball Jamaica – Upcoming Events FAST5 Netball World Series". mynetballjamaica.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014.
5. ^ 2014 Jamaica Fast5 – Coach Preview. 5 November 2014. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 - via YouTube.
6. ^ "Sunshine Girls aim to replicate medal finish". jamaica-gleaner.com. 30 October 2014.
7. ^ "Netball Jamaica – Heartbreaking win and loss at Fast5". mynetballjamaica.com. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014.
8. ^ "Netball Jamaica – From dismal start to a blazing finish". mynetballjamaica.com. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014.
9. ^ Jamaica Netball Association. "The Origins of Netball". Archived from the original on 18 March 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
10. ^ Bailey, Robert (12 May 2011). "Pitterson, Daley the WNC coaches for Sunshine Girls". The Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
11. ^ Bogle, Dania (30 May 2011). "Forbes says she'll never stop loving the game". The Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
12. ^ "Bryan named captain of Sunshine Girls". Jamaica Observer.
13. ^ "Forbes Retires From The Sunshine Girls". rjrnewsonline.com.
14. ^ "The many sides of Simone Forbes". jamaica-gleaner.com. 14 April 2013.
15. ^ a b "Byfield only casualty of WNC disaster". Jamaica Observer.
16. ^ "Simone Forbes picks up 3-month ban". Jamaica Observer.
17. ^ "Topic: Former netball captain Simone Forbes banned – Netball Scoop". netballscoop.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
18. ^ "Exodus of Senior Netballers Hurting The Sport – RJR News – Jamaican News Online". rjrnewsonline.com.
19. ^ "Sports Jamaica:: End of the Road?... Senior Netballers Reportedly Considering Retirement :: Netball". sportsjamaica.com.
20. ^ "Sunshine Girls targeting gold at Commonweath Games". jamaica-gleaner.com. 3 July 2014.
21. ^ "Topic: JAMAICA COMM GAMES TEAM 2014 – Netball Scoop". netballscoop.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014.
22. ^ Jamaica Star Online. "Aiken, Fowler head strong FAST5 squad – Jamaica Star – October 1, 2013". jamaica-star.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
23. ^ "Aiken, Kelly Lead Sunshine Girls into Fast5 World Series – RJR News – Jamaican News Online". rjrnewsonline.com.
24. ^ "Netball Weekly Round Up 10th January 2014". netball.org. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
25. ^ "Sunshine Girls off to Fast5 Champs". jamaica-gleaner.com. 3 November 2013.
26. ^ "Jamaica's Netball World Cup Team 2015". Jamaica Observer.
27. ^ "Jamaica's Netball World Cup Team 2015 – Netball". Jamaica Observer.
28. ^ "NS PREVIEW: 2022 Commonwealth Games – Group A". Netball Scoop. 19 July 2022.
29. ^ "2022 Commonwealth Games Preview: Jamaica". Central. 25 July 2022.
30. ^ "Sunshine Girls brace for high-riding England". Jamaica Observer.
31. ^ "Sunshine century! Bryan delighted with 100th international cap". jamaica-gleaner.com. 18 June 2012.
32. ^ "Topic: Centurions still playing – Netball Scoop". netballscoop.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
33. ^ a b "Elaine Davis To Take A Break From Netball – RJR News – Jamaican News Online". rjrnewsonline.com.
34. ^ "Henry thanks sponsor JN, plans retirement". jamaica-gleaner.com. 30 July 2015.
35. ^ "Henry thanks JN, plans retirement". Community Forum.
36. ^ "Henry thanks JN, plans retirement news". Newsunited.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015.

## External links

[edit]

* Sunshine Girls Squad[usurped]
* SSG at NWC

* v
* t
* e

Jamaica national netball team

* Netball Jamaica

Tournaments|

| Netball World Cup|

* 1963
* 1967
* 1971
* 1975
* 1979
* 1983
* 1987
* 1991
* 1995
* 1999
* 2003
* 2007
* 2011
* 2015
* 2019
* 2023

|

Commonwealth Games|

* 1998
* 2002
* 2006
* 2010
* 2014
* 2018
* 2022

Taini Jamison Trophy|

* 2010
* 2016
* 2018
* 2022

Netball Quad Series/Nations Cup|

* 2020

Fast5 Netball World Series|

* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2016
* 2018
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024

World Games|

* 1985
* 1993

Central American and Caribbean Games|

* 2023

Series|

| England|

* 2021
* 2023

|

Captains|

* Marva Lindsay
* Elaine Davis
* Nadine Bryan
* Nicole Aiken-Pinnock
* Malysha Kelly
* Jhaniele Fowler
* Shimona Nelson
* Romelda Aiken

Head coaches|

* Maureen Hall
* Connie Francis
* Oberon Pitterson
* Minneth Reynolds
* Sasher-Gaye Henry
* Marvette Anderson
* Nicole Aiken-Pinnock

* v
* t
* e

Netball in the Americas

Governing bodies|

* Americas Netball
* Netball Jamaica
* USA Netball
* Netball America

National teams|

* Barbados
* Canada
* Jamaica
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States

By country|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States

* v
* t
* e

National sports teams of Jamaica

* Badminton
* Baseball
* Basketball
* M
* M U17
* W
* Beach soccer
* Bobsleigh
* Cricket
* M
* W
* Field hockey
* M
* W
* Football
* M
* M U23
* M U20
* M U17
* W
* W U20
* Ice hockey
* M
* M U20
* Netball
* Rugby league
* M
* W
* Rugby union
* M
* M7
* W
* Tennis
* M
* W
* Volleyball

* Olympics
* Paralympics
* Commonwealth Games
* Pan American Games

Tournaments

* v
* t
* e

Netball World Cup

Tournaments|

* 1963
* 1967
* 1971
* 1975
* 1979
* 1983
* 1987
* 1991
* 1995
* 1999
* 2003
* 2007
* 2011
* 2015
* 2019
* 2023
* 2027

Squads|

* 1963
* 1967
* 1971
* 1975
* 1979
* 1983
* 1987
* 1991
* 1995
* 1999
* 2003
* 2007
* 2011
* 2015
* 2019
* 2023
* 2027

Qualification|

| Africa|

* 2023

|

Americas|

* 2023

Asia|

* 2023

Europe|

* 2023

Oceania|

* 2023

Team medallists|

* Australia
* England
* Jamaica
* New Zealand
* Trinidad and Tobago
* South Africa

Players|

* Medallists

* v
* t
* e

Netball at the Commonwealth Games

Tournaments|

* 1990
* 1998
* 2002
* 2006
* 2010
* 2014
* 2018
* 2022

Rosters|

* 1990
* 1998
* 2002
* 2006
* 2010
* 2014
* 2018
* 2022

Team medallists|

* Australia
* England
* Jamaica
* New Zealand

Players|

* Medallists

* v
* t
* e

Taini Jamison Trophy

Series|

* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024

Winners|

* New Zealand
* World 7
* Jamaica
* England

Organising body|

* Netball New Zealand

Namesake|

* Taini Jamison

* v
* t
* e

Netball at the World Games

Tournaments|

* 1985
* 1989
* 1993

Medallists|

* Australia
* England
* Jamaica
* New Zealand

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