Canada series an important building block

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 12 July 2017

Despite being swept in the recent three-match home Test series against Canada, the Cayman Islands Netball Association’s technical director, Violet Murray-Corbin believes the experience was an important building block for the national programme.

“There’s loads of positives. First of all, the young ladies performed well and I won’t take that away from them at all,” Murray-Corbin said in an interview with CaymanSportsBuzz.com.

The visitors dominated the opening match at the Clifton Hunter High School gym on 6 July, winning 54-36. Corbin said nerves were a factor for the home side in the opening encounter, their first international challenge in three years.

“They picked themselves up in the second match. They got themselves back into shape and they brought the game to Canada,” said Murray-Corbin, who also serves as head coach for the national team.

Leading after the first quarter and competitive at the half, the Cayman Islands fell behind later in the game and lost by five points (43-38).

Noting that injuries hampered the team going into the final Test, Murray-Corbin said the team gave their best but Canada, ranked number 27 in the world, proved too much winning 49-30.

While the local side has seen little competition recently, the Canadians have been playing twice-a-year coming in. Corbin is optimistic about what she saw from the Cayman ladies. “I think we have got players here that are competitive,” she said.

“What we need now is some consistency with the coaching and the selection of the ladies that are taking part in the national squad. It has to be regular,” she said, pointing to the challenges with national teams here including having players juggle work schedules to make training sessions.

Representing the Cayman Islands were: Katherine Gow (captain), Nicosia Lawson (vice-captain), Alexis Carias, Dominique Grant, Joanne Ziegler, Kaili Kappler, Kerrina Cecere, Kay Copeland, Kristie Hurlston, Lucy Carey, Martika Williams, Roxanne Walton, and Tashena Parkes. Denise Anderson was the assistant coach and Andrea Singh was the manager.

Murray-Corbin said she hopes to carve out some designated time for national squad development to keep the top players functioning as a unit.

After getting a taste of international competition, the players may get their appetites whetted some more in the near future. The President of USA Netball was on hand for the series and Murray-Corbin said he was working on a proposal for a Test against Cayman. She also said other opportunities for competition against Caribbean neighbours could be explored.

She was also thankful for the volunteer scorers who worked the series: Tricia Palacio, Eve Lunn, Mellisa Rankine, Amorya Crawford, Ashanti Reid, Marvin Gordon, and Avril Myers.