Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
THE JAMAICA Netball Association (JNA) yesterday confirmed the appointment of Connie Francis to the post of national senior team coach with Denbigh High School coach Annett Daley as her assistant.
The post became available after former coach Oberon Pitterson surprisingly handed in her resignation on July 3 under a cloud of controversy.
The controversy came from the suddenness of the decision, which came with questions of why the former national player turned coach would have called it a day.
However, in subsequent days it became clear that there were rifts between Pitterson and other members of the JNA, including Francis, that might have helped Pitterson to take the decision after her commitments to basketball and netball became difficult to juggle.
Prior to Pitterson's resignation, Francis was to have become the shooting coach for the team and was to have worked out days when she would take the team.
However, with Pitterson's resignation, the JNA's plans to get specific coaches for topical areas like shooting has been put on hold to facilitate Francis' appointment.
In 2004, Francis attained Level 2 Coaching accreditation from Australia's Institute of Sport. During that period she assisted with Australia's Under-21 team as well as Australia's Academy netball team.
Her coaching experience has extended to the St. Lucia team, the St. Kitts Under-23 side and Business House teams. She played for Jamaica for 17 years and captained the senior team for six years.
According to JNA president Marva Bernard the future of netball, despite the loss of Pitterson, looks bright, especially with the acquisition of Francis.
"We had to move quickly to get Connie as the head coach. There is some difficulty because there are not a lot of coaches with the accreditation but the JNA is moving to change that," Bernard said.
