Netball team will play in Northern Ireland

The St. Lucia National Netball Association [SLNNA] accepted an invitation from Netball

Northern Ireland [Netball NI] to participate in an International Netball Festival during the period October 31- November 3.

Netball NI will be meeting the cost of return travel from St. Lucia to Dublin, Republic ot Ireland, as well as accommodation and meals for a contingent of 16 [12 players and 4 officials]. Travel insurance is sponsored by M&C General Insurance of St. Lucia.

According to a release from Northern Ireland: “It is the first time that such a tournament has been organized by Netball NI and to be in a position to attract teams of the calibre of Barbados (10th), St Lucia (12th) and Botswana (18th) in the world to the province is a clear indication of our stature within world netball”.

This world netball ranking event will be held in the province of Antrim to which the team will travel by coach after arrival at Dublin International Airport on October 29, 2013.

The competition schedule is as follows: October 31, 4:30 pm – Opening Ceremony; 5:00 pm – Northern Ireland vs Botswana; 7.00 pm – St. Lucia vs Barbados; November 1, 5:00 pm – Barbados vs Botswana; 7.00 pm – Northern Ireland vs St. Lucia. November 2,  1:00 pm – Barbados vs Northern Ireland; 3:00 pm – Botswana vs St. Lucia. November 3, 1:00 pm – third place vs fourth place; 3:00 pm – first place vs second place; 4.30 pm – Closing Ceremony.

The members of Team St. Lucia for competition in this scheduled world netball ranking event are: Shem Maxwell (Team Captain), Deselva Florton (Vice Captain), Merlessa Alfred, Valencia Classe, Jeanique Etienne, Ianna Hippolyte, Denise Charles, Judy Mathurin, Tabitha Matty, Delia Samuel, Roxanna Snyder, Saphia William.

The St. Lucia contingent is under the management of Ms. Daria Poyotte. Mr. Anthony  Lamontagne is the team coach and the team physiotherapist is Dr. Keiber Codrington. Mr. Wayne Benti has been selected by the International Netball Federation to officiate as an umpire.

As St. Lucia prepares for XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland next year; the SLNNA deems this a great opportunity to benchmark the high performance capability of our national netballers; as well as to assess readiness for internationally competitive netball.

Looking forward to a tremendous performance from Team St. Lucia. Matches will be streamed and the public will be advised of the web location in due course.