Two Nevisians have been included in a fifteen member squad that will represent St. Kitts and Nevis at the AFNA hosted qualifying games to be played in St. Maarten shortly.
This information was revealed on Tuesday by Miss Vera Herbert who is the President of the Nevis Netball Association and Vice President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Netball Association.
According to Miss Hebert some 8 young ladies from Nevis tried out with their Kittitian counterparts for selection to the Federation team, as for such tournaments, the federation must be represented as one team.
From the eight young ladies who tried out, two were selected to the team. The two are: Jewel Thompson and Tysen O’Flaherty, who both attend the Charlestown Secondary School.
Miss Herbert further revealed that the AFNA qualifiers will be held in St .Maarten from the 22nd to 28th of August and will see the following teams in action: Trinidad and Tobago; Barbados; Argentina, Canada, Grenada; host team St. Maarten and St. Kitts and Nevis
From these teams, the three top placers will qualify for the world under 21 tournament set for Botswana in 2017.
Prior to the meeting, an annual general meeting will be held in ST. Maarten for the AFNA officials and representing St. Kitts and Nevis, will be: Miss Vera Herbert; Ms. Juliet Hanley-President of the ST. Kitts Netball Association and Mr. Dion French -President of the ST. Kitts-Nevis Netball Association.
Miss Herbert used the opportunity to appeal to business entities and individuals who are able to donate souvenir items and at least 15 T-shirts for the team. The souvenirs and gifts will be used during team exchanges at matches.
Both young ladies expressed joy at their selection to the team and indicated that they will be giving their all for the federation team during the tournament and intend to help the team to qualify and move on to the final round of matches.
Jewel Thompson is a tall goal shooter who stated that because of the influence of family members such as her dad, Allister Thompson and her cousin Rhonda Thompson, she was aspiring to make it big in the sport since age seven.
Miss O’Flaherty on the other hand, stated that from an early age, she would have been positively impacted by her mom, Miss Vera Herbert and is settled in a similar position on the court as a center player but also plays wing attack.
The team will be holding a fund raiser in St. Kitts, this coming Saturday which will involve a drive through featuring the girls, accompanied with music.
The team which leaves for St. Maarten on August 20th will be managed by Mrs. Lydia Thompson-Claxton, former West Indies Netball captain.