Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

National coach Connie Francis. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

SOME NOTABLE names will be absent from the squad that will travel to face Australia and then world champions New Zealand for practice games next month.

However, national coach Connie Francis is confident that her young squad will not only be able to give a fair account of itself but, more important, be in good shape for the World Championships which will take place in New Zealand in November.

"We don't have anything to worry about," the former national player remarked when quizzed on the prospect of the team facing their two main rivals.

"It is about how well we will be able to compete, travelling with these young players that we have," Francis said.

"We need to know if they are capable of withstanding the type of pressure that we will get at the World Championships," she said.

"I think they are a bit anxious but I'm not really worried because I know that these girls will play well."

With the surprising absence of experienced centre Nadine Bryan, wing attack Tamara Hylton and goal attack Latoya Thomas from the current squad, and the retirement of former captain Oberon Pitterson last year, just to name a few, the programme is definitely in a rebuilding period.

Some experience

The team does, however, have some experience left on the current squad with five players who will take part in the Antipodean tour having taken part in previous World Championships. That list includes Kasey Evering, Elaine Davis, Simone Forbes, Nichala Gibson an Byfield, who returned to the programme a couple of months ago.

"To be honest, we are not accustomed to having so many new players heading into a World Championship," Francis said.

"Bu we have the new players, it is a balanced team because we have some veterans in it and they are good teachers of the game.

"So far they have helped the youngsters really nicely," she said.

According to Francis, a major difficulty the team continues to face in its preparations is scheduling. The training sessions, due to the fact that the sport still doesn't pay, continue to have to be moulded around the timetables of several players.

"Sometimes it's difficult to get the squad going and assembled at one time," Francis pointed out.

"We have had to restructure our entire training sessions just to accommodate the girls, because we all have different things we need to fit in," she said.

The coach, however, went on to commend the team for its adaptability so far.

"I think the girls have done a wonderful job of adjusting to various situations. At times even a lot better than some of our more senior girls have in the past."

While the Jamaicans have managed to hold on to the third spot in terms of the world rankings, there is a generally accepted gulf between themselves and the top two teams, New Zealand and Australia.

The Sunshine Girls are yet to really make any significant breakthrough in terms of consistent success against either side.

The emergence of current world number four ranked England in recent times is expected to also make the upcoming World Championships a difficult one.

"History has shown there to be a difference between us because they keep winning all time, but we have always done really well against them," Francis argued about New Zealand and Australia.

"What we really need to work on is playing four solid quarters of netball, which is also a test of our physical strength, and that is one area we are working on," she said.

"The youngsters have been doing really well. We want them to continue working, learning the game; they have shown that they belong on the senior team.

"They have shown that they will be a force to be reckoned with come final selection and, as I said, I expect them to do really well."