LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
Connie Francis gesticulates while speaking to members of Jamaica's senior netball team during a break in the third game of their Test series against Australia at the National Indoor Sports Centre, Independence Park last night. Australia won 47-31. - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE WAY she speaks, Connie Francis would have you believe her picture is right next to the word 'passion' in the dictionary.
The self-titled netball lover represented Jamaica for 17 years, six of which she served as captain. The feisty goal attack and shooter played in five World Netball Champion-ships between 1986 and 2003 and helped lift Jamaica's world ranking from fifth to third during that period.
After first hanging up her bib in 1999, Francis came out of retirement specifically for the 2003 championships held in Kingston.
"I was always passionate about competing and any chance I got to play for my country I jumped at it," Francis said.
Instinctively, Francis had to be passionate about netball because of the expectations placed on any national athlete. She injected herself with all the forces around her, both negative and positive, and used them as a launch pad throughout her career, which she summed up as "challenging".
SET PERSONAL GOALS
"You are up against yourself, your opponents and your country," she said. "I set personal goals for myself to achieve, other athletes are always testing you and the public expects the best from you always."
Francis, 41, has been transferring her penchant for the game from playing to coaching. She was recently appointed co-coach of the senior national team and, along with Janet Guy, is charged with the responsibility of improving Jamaica's third rank at next year's Commonwealth Games in Australia.
"I set myself a huge goal of Jamaica rising from number three," she said. "I envision us challenging for the silver or the gold."
However, Francis said her coaching objectives are deeper than winning medals. Her players range from former teammates to fledgling teenagers and she said a variety of interpersonal skills will come into play when communicating with them.
SISTER TYPE OF RELATIONSHIP
"I want to relate to the players with a certain level of honesty and for them to relate to me the same way - like a sister type of relationship," she said.
Long-time teammate and current captain Oberon Pitterson said Francis is just what the young players need.
"Connie will help to instill some intensity into their game," Pitterson said. "The same intensity she played with she brings that to the training."
Francis will have seven Under-21 players in her care who were promoted to the senior team for the three-Test series against Australia which ended last night.
One of those players is Romelda Aiken, the lanky 16-year-old goal shooter, who at 6' 5" has shown much promise for the future.
"The sky is the limit for Romelda," she said with much fervour. "But what I want to teach these young players is every day they get a chance to play, they should play as if it is their last."
That statement predictably begged the obvious question.
"Yes, that's the way I played," she said in a somewhat modest manner. "I'm a winner, and even if I don't win I want to believe that I gave it my best.
"People will remember you for the good and the effort you put into the game."
Coaching seems innate to Francis. She started by coaching business house teams during her playing years and met success almost immediately. She received her coaching accreditation from Australia Institute of Sports in 2004 and last year had coaching stints with St. Lucia and St. Kitts national teams.
PLAYS BASKETBALL
Francis also plays basketball and represented Jamaica from the mid-1980s to mid-90s in several Caribbean tournaments. Her skills earned her a scholarship at Frank Phillip College in Texas which Pitterson, also captain of the national basketball team, also attended.
She and the president of the Jamaica Basketball Associa-tion, Marland Nattie who is also a former national player, have a child together, Colleen, and she dabbles in both basketball and netball.
"At one point she had the knack for netball but later on she started gravitating more towards basketball and I think the influence really comes from her father," Francis said.
Francis had greater international success in netball ,but said she got more satisfaction from playing basketball.
"Basketball gives you the freedom to do a lot of things, netball is just too restricted," she quipped. "The rules in netball restrict you a lot but in basketball you really get to express yourself."
Francis, who received the Order of Distinction in 2002, will be placed right alongside Vilma Charlton, Grace Beckford, Janet Guy and Patricia 'Cricket' McDonald in netball's Hall of Fame and her legacy will be remembered as she intended.
"I want to be remembered as a lover of the sport, a person with a passion for the sport and someone who loved playing for her country."
