Careless whispers !!

It's no secret who I have publicly endorsed for two of the three vacant coaching positions in the Barbados Netball Association.

It's no secret that I think the committee put in place to make such a decision had a hard task after both my choices had their interviews.

What seems to be a 'secret' is who has been given the nod for the senior national coach.

Yesterday ( Thursday Friday 27th November) and today it was unofficially 'revealed' that my co-coaching partner was the new coach. While that is what most people may be hoping/praying for, we are prepared to wait for the YES or NO from the BNA.

Time will tell if we are going to go with what is considered 'ruthless players' or if we will just have players.

It is no SECRET, what God can do...........................with arms wide open, he'll PARDON you. It is no SECRET, what God can do.

The wait is on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost one week after conducting interviews to decide who is the 'best' or least qualified to be considered to coach at the national level, the Barbados Netball Association is still undecided.

In the case of the U-16 team, I would have thought that the Coaching Selection Committee ( is that what it is?) would realise that with the 2010 regional U-16 tournament less than six months away prioritising that team by naming all THREE members of the management ( Coach,Asst Coach and Manager) is important.

As far as this unit is concerned, one of the candidates interviewed for the position of Assistant Coach is long serving national player Lydia Bishop of Spooners Hill Netball Club. Lydia brings with her a wealth of international playing experience which can be an asset if she is successful. She has also singlehandedly molded a group of teenagers into a team capable of playing quality netball.

The position of senior national coach is more intriguing and mouth watering in anticipation. Will it be the netball stalwart who has given years of dedication to the sport or my friend the track and field czar who will bring a FRESH AND INNOVATIVE APPROACH to our national programme if selected?

At the beginning of this post I queried why there is this delay with the naming of the management teams. I do not blame the committee which has been put in place but I however blame the BNA for allowing such an important matter to be decided by a 'board' other than themselves.

My positions for managent of the U-16 team is : Julie Phillips ( Coach) , Lydia Bishop ( Asst coach) and who ever as Manager. LOL !!

Alwyn Babb is my choice for senior national coach despite what tradition says and anybody else in the lesser positions.

I may not be right about any of the positions where Babb and Lydia are concerned, but I know that these two persons are the BEST qualified applicants.

WE WAIT IN ANTICIPATION !!

11 STRAIGHT !

Is Julie Phillips the best person for the position of head coach of the national U-16 team?

It would be easy to answer in the affirmative after she guided perennial schools' champions Springer Memorial to an amazing 11th straight netball title in this years' BSSNL competition.

What made the victory sweeter according to JP was the fact that the girls were not able to train as a unit but were not willing to surrender to their opponents.

She admitted that she was also able to get them into the " I think I can" mode which the girls were able to use as a motivating factor.

Miss Phillips' next challenge will be attempting to improve on the second place finish from this years' regional U-16 tournament at next years' tourney in Barbados.



WAY to go Julie P and Springer Memorial !!!

LOSERS !!

What is the possibility that a club with three teams in a competition can default a game in the highest division ??

If your answer is no, then think again.

In their final league game of the 2009 Barbados Workers' Union competition ( November 18),defending champions Brydens V8 Splash who played under the name of a product that is marketed by their sponsor DEFAULTED to new champions A&A Connections.

Was it a case of poor sportsmanship or fear of being annihilated ??

WE'LL NEVER KNOW !!!

CONGRATULATIONS !!!!

With nothing to lose and everything to gain,A&A Connections comprehensively won the Senior Division of the 2009 Barbados Workers' Union ( BWU) Out-of-season competition.

Congrats to Lydia, Kizzy,Dionne, Santia, Alicia, Renee, Rosemarie, Denise, Sherese, Sabrina, Natalie and Rhonda. Congratulations also are extended to Alwyn Babb who brought this team together in an attempt to bring some excitement to this tournament.

Guess he is working on strategising for his new role. HINT HINT !!!!

AMMM QUIT 2

"Man he cud really put down d whistle!"

" I aint know wha he doing a tall!"

"He umpiring nuff sh**e!"

"He only come in here when d evenings come ta get $10 !"

These are just a small sample of the 'sentiments' being hurled towards one of the two male umpires in Barbados at the moment.

Ironically the umpire in question doesn't seem to know how to turn a negative into a positive as his umpiring is progressively worsening and has reached the stage where he should seriously consider taking a break and learn the rules of the sport.

Equally ironic is that the said umpire is now a member of the Barbados Association of Netball Umpires( BANU) and will be in a decision making position. Crazy huh!!!

In this same vein is a longstanding member of a distribution company who has been lauded as the next best umpire from this island. HAHA!!

Take some advice once it is given young miss. It's true that you should listen to your coach when on court.Off court it's a different ball game ( pun intended) .

This may be a case of I FAIL, YOU FAIL !!

AMMM, just quit!!

For many years it has been the NORM to hear teacher after teacher openly complaining about the level of umpiring meted out to their respective schools during the BSSNL competitions. These concerns have apparently reached boiling point and alledgedly manifested themselves at Waterford this evening ( Nov 3rd).

In what was played ( pun intended) out in front of numerous spectators,the umpires apparently had a field day trying to get their schools of choice by allegiance and other ways, into the semifinals.

If this umpiring( and I say this word loosely) was anything like last night ( Nov 2nd) in the Barbados Workers Union competition, then we are in a state of disrepair. I digress!!

To quote a teacher " I aint know how every year I meeting a certain school all d time and not only dat but the same f****ing teacher? Ammm, I mean umpire ?"

My involvement in schools' netball has taught me this. Some people will do absolutely anything to win and these perpetrators of the sport has somehow weaseled their thought process into the
brains of the innocent.

That bacchanal broke out in the Netball Satdium may be the end result of a torrid season in which I too was almost cussed out by a woman ( I would like to call her another name) who has limited knowledge about the game far less the rules and chose to tell me what I was NOT doing.

When incidences like what alledgedly happened this evening takes place and the people who are put under the microscope are those who know better ( we would think they do) and choose not to do so.........................................

I WILL say this in open honesty. Some of the individuals who umpire in this particular competition CHOOSES not to do what is RIGHT out of AFFILIATION to certain individuals and it shows. Poor people !!

HAHA !! The harshness of this situation took place in 2002 when I entered a team with limited talent but plenty brains in said competition.We were unbeaten in our zone,went to the final four and one of the culprits of today's debacle, brought my team to tears with some crazy interpretations and ridiculous calls.

ALL these years later that nonsense exists.

TIME 4 CHANGE !!!!

When the DLP became the leaders of our fate, it was a TIME FOR CHANGE !!

When Barack Obama became the first black President of the USA, that too was a TIME FOR CHANGE !!

When the little boy from Hillaby,St.Andrew obliterated his opponents in Berlin this year, that too showed a TIME FOR CHANGE !!

When Alwyn Babb is summoned for an interview with the Coaching personnel of the BNA, that too will beckon the TIME FOR CHANGE !!


I was tempted to write about a very peculiar conversation that occured last week, but I am not going to do so because it really isn't worth it.

What I will say is that some individuals out there in NETBALL land seem to think that Mr.Babb is doing the WRONG ( YES WRONG) thing by placing his name in the pool of hopefuls for the coach of our senior national team.

He didn't ask me to write this so whomever thinks that he did, SO WHAT ? It's none of your business !!!

When the applications became public it was fair game for all concerned. Unfortunately it seems as though we have definitely reached crisis stage in netball because only two local coaches applied. Now the ones who didn't are having their round table discussions and talking LAVATORY MATTER ( I haven't used that term in a while) .

If these guardians and inventors of the game didn't apply because of their lack of qualifications, whose fault was it ??

If these same people think that a betrayal has occured, so what ??

If these same people think that a male can't or shouldn't coach any national teams here in Barbados, so what ??

In the end it will come down to a single interview. No call backs for a second, no "Don't call me, I'll call you!"

This however is what I KNOW. If he goes first, it is WAR and if he goes after, it's DOOMSDAY !!

This may be the BNA's TIME FOR CHANGE !!