Cayman netball qualifies for world ranking

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 1 November 2018

Cayman and Canada netballers come together for a photo at the end of the series.

The Cayman Islands national netball team returned home on Sunday, 26 October, after a tough three-game series loss against Canada in British Colombia last week. On the bright side, the International Netball Federation has reported that the Cayman Islands have enough activity to qualify for an international ranking.

In their first international challenge since losing to the Canadians at home last year, Cayman’s ladies hoped for a better showing this time around. However, it was another sweep with the world #24 Canada winning the contests 78-31, 67-28, and 58-37.

“Although Cayman Islands lost all three matches, we are pleased to announce that they have now played enough games to qualify for an international ranking,” the International Netball Federation posted on its website following the series.

CaymanSportsBuzz.com spoke to assistant coach Orvin Palacio upon the team’s arrival at Owen Roberts International Airport. “It didn’t go as we had hoped. We were shaky in the first two games and in the third game, they really picked up and worked on some of the stuff that we have been focusing on training,” he said.

With many of the players new to the international level, Palacio said it was a good starting point. “All-in-all, I think the experience was invaluable to this group. I’m just hoping that we’ll be able to move forward and get some more games closer together instead of the long layoff we had,” he said.

The coach said he was pleased with the fight the ladies showed on the court toward the end of the series. “For me, it was the effort. Especially in the last game, they really pushed to do what they were supposed to do in terms of trying to contain Canada and our shooters did a good job of scoring and creating a lot of the chances that we got,” Palacio said.

However, he said it will be important to get the players more international games as a unit, as well as having them attend training camps locally or abroad to get them ready for those opportunities.

Based on the International Netball Federation, teams do not get a world ranking if they have only played a small number of matches over a four-year rating period.