Saint Lucia will make their netball debut at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 3 to 7. The team, called the Piton Sparks, will leave on Friday for the tournament, which takes place at the Juan Bosch City Sports Complex.
Team captain Melika Destang says that besides aiming for victory and a possible medal, the team also wants to improve their ranking. Saint Lucia are currently ranked 31st in the world.
Destang said training has been going very well. ”It’s very intense. We started off with a three-month strength and conditioning session, and then we moved into court work and we got more technical. But it’s been very good,” she said.
“My expectation will be that the games will be very competitive and very intense. It’s not like the normal teams that we usually play against, so it’s going to be a very tough competition. But we expect and we aim to improve our regional ranking.”
The team will be boosted by Megan Nestor, a Saint Lucian basketball star who is returning to netball for these games. Nestor told the St Lucia Times that representing her country on the international stage was an opportunity she could not miss.
“Netball will always and forever be my first love,” she said. “I picked up basketball just because I got a basketball scholarship, and then I ended up doing great in the sport and (I am) still doing good. It’s always nice to come back to the roots and come back to where I started to represent my country. So I’m here.”
“Everybody who’s on the team has played with each other for a long time, so we pretty much know each other and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And yeah, it’s been really good.”
The team are confident about their chances going forward. They play Trinidad & Tobago, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Jamaica and Barbados over a five-day period.
