Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
AFTER FINALLY arriving in the island yesterday, following a second place finish in the Caribbean Netball Association Under-16 Championships in St. Kitts, all is not lost for the Junior Sunshine Girlz.
Though the Jamaicans finished outside of a gold medal placing for the first time in six tries, the players have learnt much.
Christina Salmon, who finished as the tournament's highest scoring shooter, for one, thought that she was a different player from the girl who had left Tarrant to represent the Young Sunshine Girlz.
"I enjoyed it. It was fun. St. Kitts is a quiet place and it's a little different from Jamaica," said Salmon.
Despite the difference, Salmon performed well and has noted her improvement in no uncertain fashion.
"I regarded my performance as excellent because I wasn't like this at home. I've improved a lot. I had my chance to show my true skill and I did that," she said.
One of the low points of the Jamaican visit to St. Kitts was a loss to Barbados in what proved to be the deciding game in the tournament.
NERVOUS
At the time, their team manager Arlene Findlay had indicated that the team was nervous and that cost them the game.
Salmon now understands how nervousness can affect perfor-mance and it is a mistake that she does not want to make again.
"I was nervous in the game against Barbados and I learnt that when you are nervous you need to find ways of keeping your composure and relaxing," she said.
With the Jamaican contingent suffering lengthy delays from flight problems, they got an opportunity to reflect on losing the Championship and Findlay herself made very important statements about the loss.
"The loss that they suffered would have been an eye opener for us (Jamaica Netball Association) in general and for them in particular. Everybody always felt that there is nobody in the Caribbean to beat us and this will mean that we will not be so complacent in the future," she said.
Findlay made sure to point out, though, that while the loss was difficult for Jamaica to swallow there were many positives from the experience.
"There's been a lot of positives. Of this 12, eight of them will be back next year so that is a positive. They have learnt how to overcome in difficult circumstances. The problems with the travel arrangements, they have had to overcome that and just the experience of playing in the tournament will be good for them.
"They have never played from behind before and they just panicked, but they will learn from that too," noted Findlay, who thinks that the title of Caribbean champions won't be away from Jamaica for much longer.
