Dr Patricia Butcher has hinted at the appointment of former Australian netball and New Zealand assistant coach, Vickie Wilson as Technical Director to the T&T Netball Association in the near future.

Butcher made this disclosure while addressing a small gathering at a welcome reception held for the T&T “Calypso Girls” from the 14th Netball World Cup which ended in Sydney, Australia on Sunday.

The function which lasted little over an hour was held on the team’s arrival home at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport on Tuesday morning.

Commenting on the ninth placed finish in the 16-team competition, by the Joelisa Cooper captained T&T women, Butcher said the team was capable of doing great things, but needed help.

She said, “Our team possesses the necessary netball talent to get back at the top, but the association does not even have the technical person that can take us there.”

“I’m not saying this to pull down anyone in T&T, but if we as a sport have to advance in terms of modern and scientific techniques, we need assistance at the highest level. 

“So while in Australia my discussions were with people like Vickie Wilson, a former top Australian netball captain and player, who served as the assistant coach of the New Zealand team at the just concluded World Cup and she is willing to come down here and assist us.”

Butcher made it clear that should the 50-year-old Wilson, a three-time world champion (1991, 1995, 1999) be appointed she expect no friction with current national coach, Wesley “Pepe” Gomes.

As a former Australian Diamonds captain, Wilson is one of netball’s most successful players with three World Championship gold medals and one Commonwealth Games gold medal to her credit. 

She played for the Australian national netball side for fifteen years and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1992.

After retiring in 1999, Wilson has forged a successful career coaching at an elite level, most recently with the Queensland Firebirds from 2006, continuing in the ANZ Championship for two years until the 2009 season.

With regards to the expected communication between both coaches Butcher added, “ “Pepe” has already told us that he is willing to get assistance from the highest level and we have had before this two other Australians who have assisted us in the past with Government’s help and I am appealing to Government at this time to give us the assistance once more, and we certainly will be able to achieve the highest potential in netball.”

Over the years, T&T has had the benefit of two former Australian as Technical Directors.

First in 2007, former Australian national player Sharon Finnan was appointed by then T&TNA president Austrid Rochford to prepare the “Calypso Girls” for the 2007 World Netball Championship (WNC) in New Zealand where it placed 11th, its worst ever finish.

Then in 2010, Butcher appointed Australian technical consultant Karen Worland, a credited Level Three High Performance Netball Coaching for a one year stint.

World was responsible for basic entry coach education development, as well as preparing the national squads for the 2011 American Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) World Championships Qualifying Tournament in St Lucia and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. 

She eventually returned to Australia while T&T with Grace Parkinson Griffith at the helm ended seventh at the Singapore 2011 Netball World Cup, its best finish since 1995, Birmingham, England.

MORE INFO

Vicki Wilson

Personal information

Born: February 11, 1965 (age 50)

Brisbane, Australia

University: Queensland University of Technology

Netball career

Playing position(s): Goal Shoot

Netball World Championships

Gold medal: 1999 Christchurch; Gold medal: 1995 Birmingham; Gold medal: 1991 Sydney; Silver medal: 1987 Glasgow 

Commonwealth Games

Gold medal: 1998 Kuala Lumpur 

Coaching History

Coaching accreditation

High Performance Coach 2006 (Netball Australia)

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4x100 squad depleted as Sorrillo, Telesford injured out

An already weakened men’s 4x100 metres relay squad has been dealt a double blow at the 2015 IAAF World Championships here in Beijing, China.

Both Rondel Sorrillo and Dan-Neil Telesford are out of the global meet with injury.

“We have two major concerns,” Trinidad and Tobago team manager Dexter Voisin told the Express, yesterday. “Sorrillo and Telesford have both been advised to cut short their Worlds because of the nature of their injuries.

“Telesford re-injured his knee,” Voisin explained, “and Sorrillo re-injured his leg. I’m awaiting word from home to see what arrangements can be made to fly them out of Beijing.”

T&T has a history of global sprint relay success. But with stalwarts Richard “Torpedo” Thompson and Marc Burns unavailable through injury, the Beijing campaign was always going to be difficult. Additionally, Marcus Duncan, who finished second to Keston Bledman at the National Championships, opted out of the Beijing Worlds, and 2003 World Championship 100m silver medallist Darrel Brown was also unavailable.

Though depleted, T&T still managed to secure bronze at last month’s Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, Sorrillo, Bledman, Emmanuel Callender and Telesford teaming up for a 38.69 seconds clocking in the final.

Now that Sorrillo and Telesford are out of the World Championships, the Beijing squad is down to a bare four—Bledman, Callender, Kyle Greaux and sprint hurdler Mikel Thomas.

“I’ve not seen it visibly,” said Voisin, “but these injuries would have affected the mood among the athletes on the 4x1 squad.”

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For T&T netball to get back among the top teams in the world, a key development that must take place is the establishment of a professional league.

This was the view of T&T Netball Association president, Dr Patricia Butcher while speaking on the “Calypso Girls” return from the 14th Netball World Cup which ended in Sydney, Australia on Sunday with the Joelisa Cooper led T&T placing ninth of 16 teams.

Australia emerged the champion, beating New Zealand in the final.

Butcher, who is also the president of the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) admitted that after seeing the standard of facilities in Australia and the type of professionalism they approached the sport with, it was not hard to see why they were the best in the world.

She said, “We at home here have a lot to do before we can get back to that level, but key elements to helping us getting there is the support both from Government and Corporate T&T. There is an abundance of young netball talent here in T&T, but we need that support and we also need to look at having a professional netball league where the players are paid fulltime.”

With regards to the team’s placing, Butcher said it was a very long journey, but a very successful journey from her own perspective.

“To me ninth is a good number because we went there knowing we were in a very difficult pool with the top two ranked teams in the world in Australia and New Zealand along with Barbados.

“After the first round which we ended 1-2 losing to Australia and New Zealand, there was a second round of two pools of eight.

“The top two teams in each group played in the first pool of eight and then we were in the second pool of eight for places ninth through 16.”

However, Butcher pointed out that had the format of the tournament been a little different, T&T had a great chance of placing higher.

“At the tournament, there was a Netball Congress held and it was felt by most of the teams present that the draw made for the competition was not fair to all the nations.

“We all spoke and the International Netball Federation Congress heard us loudly and as a member of the board, I will do my best to ensure that this format does not happen again.” Commenting on the T&T team Butcher said “Our Netball was up there before in the top rankings in the world and to her the team can get back up there, but we don’t even have a proper court, because for me the Jean Pierre Complex as it is, we can forget it.

“At Mayaro there is a good facility but we cannot be trekking up there all the time to be able to practice in facilities of international standards.”

The T&TNA boss said the players she have seen from Australia, New Zealand and England play at the professional level or at the semi-professional level.

“The fact is that they are paid and play netball for a living while my players have regular day jobs and have to come to train after work in their spare times. They don’t get stipends, no proper nutrition, and not even a mental coach and other things that international teams have that we don’t have. 

“So there performance when I look at it in relation to what is happening on the international scene we have to do a lot better for our athletes than we are doing today.”

“And so as I am now on the INF board as a Director for the Americas Region and I am going to be pushing so that our entire region, inclusive of the Caribbean, America, Canada, and Argentina, we all get up there with the rest of them because Africa is coming up.”

Butcher said, “The Africa nations like Zambia, Fiji, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda, they are all playing netball and they are getting the kind of resources because they have a regional development manager who is doing work for them and getting sponsors and respective Governments to give them money to develop their netball.

“I also saw on the television there the Government is Australia has taken a decision to put a $100 million (Australian) towards the development of netball in their school system, so they are starting at the lowest level coming up and of course they are supporting their national team 100 per cent.

“So am pleading to the Minister of Sport and all who have the powers to make the decisions please do so.

“We have talented girls in this country so let us develop our talent and make this little dot on the map called T&T a consistent team on the world stage again.”

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Minister of Sport, Brent Sancho has vowed to give the sport of netball his full support with the hope of establishing a Professional League and new home for the sport.

Sancho, was speaking at a welcome reception he hosted at his Abercrombry Street head office, yesterday to welcome and honour the Calypso Girls home from the 14th Netball World Cup which ended in Sydney, Australia on Sunday.

T&T, which entered the 16-team tournament ranked tenth dropped its first two matches of the tournament to eventual champions and top ranked Australia (73-32) and  second ranked team and runners-ups New Zealand (74-38)  before spanking Barbados (55-39) for a 1-2 Pool A record.

In the second round for teams ninth to 16th, T&T the swept past Zambia (66-39), Singapore (75-32), Samoa (67-47) for a 3-0 record in Pool G before beating Scotland 57-56 in overtime in their ninth to 12th semifinal followed by a 64-51 defeat of Samoa in the ninth spot playoff.

Speaking at his office, Sancho, a former Soca Warriors World Cup defender first congratulated the members of the Calypso Girls and its technical staff headed by coach Wesley “Pepe” Gomes and T&T Netball Association president, Dr Patricia Butcher for doing T&T proud on the world stage.

Reflecting on the team’s difficult plight to get to the World Cup, Sancho said, “I remembered when I first came into office and I had a meeting with Dr Butcher and a two other members of the team and they  expressed to me the urgency to get funding for the women’s national team for preparation camps and tours, and then funding for going to the tournament.

He added, “What I saw in Dr Butcher  was a person who was driven and had a lot of passion for the sport and for the young people to achieve and what I saw in the players was myself, understanding what proper preparation brings and little did they knew while they were speaking I was literally signing the cheque under the table.”

“I know the importance of proper preparation and I know also the importance of netball to this country and the rich history we have in this sport and I know for a fact because of funding being a challenge for netball we would have continued on the light we were travelling before.

“But I want to state categorically on behalf of the Ministry of Sport and by extension the Sport Company of T&T that we will continue to fund this team, and we will continue to aid and assist this team in their development

“I have predicted in the next two years that women in sports will be the next big thing, I have seen the evolution of the first ever Women’s Premier League’ (football) and the success it would have had and I can see a similar feat for netball with regards to a domestic league

However, corporate T&T needs to stand up and realise what is happening in our country and need to step up to the plate,” stated Sancho.

“It is not only the responsibility of of the Government of this country to contribute to our young athletes, but corporate T&T has to take responsibility in also shaping and moulding our stars of the future.

“This Ministry would have spent and exorbitant of money in sport and as Dr Butcher would have pointed out it’s still not in comparison to other countries that the team played against so we need assistance from corporate T&T to make much of your goals a reality.

“You all are not far from being world champions again. I have watched the results and looked at some of the matches, and even against some of the top teams, despite what I will consider mediocre preparation for the standard you should be you still had very commendable performance and in some instance, it was very unfortunate you did not turn out to have more positive results.

So I say to you please keep on the course that you are charting on. I am very much aware that most of you work and still train at the same time and the lack of facilities that we have as it relates to netball and its something we at the Ministry is looking at and I can tell you, by the next time you are preparing for a World Championship event, you will have a brand new court to play on.

A supportive Sancho in his final words to the players said, “Continue on the all hard work, it has not gone unnoticed and we will continue to contribute even if I myself has to get out there with Dr Butcher and get corporate T&T behind you.”

“We have the talent here and I truly believe, particularly in women sport that your year is around the corner. I’m seeing it in track and field, and other sports that women are doing a tremendous job.

“We have some talented young women in this country and they are not too far away from achieving the goals that they set out to achieve, “ ended the former England-based footballer.

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Returning Calypso Girls skipper Joelisa Cooper emphasised the need for support and structure in the local game in the wake of their adventure at the Netball World Cup.
The Trinidad and Tobago netball team finished ninth in Sydney. However, there is a reasonable feeling in hindsight from various camps that the team was good enough to finish even higher.
Before the netballers had left for Sydney on August 1, Cooper told the Express that they had been training consistently in the two years leading up to the World Cup. None of the players were being paid for their involvement in the national set up, as there is no professional national league here.

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The Trinidad and Tobago cyclists have been given their much-need life line according to president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation (TTCF) Robert Farrier yesterday. The team had run into a serious rut when last week they discovered that they would not be receiving funding for their air fare for the Pan American Cycling Championships next month in Santiago, Chile.
Initially, the Ministry of Sport (MoS) told the TTCF that they were unable to fund the cyclists for the championships in Chile in three weeks' time, citing exhausted funds as the cause.
The competition in Chile, crucial for the athletes because it is a UCI-sanctioned event, which will help them accumulate points towards their overall world ranking, which will determine participation at next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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