Sunshine Girls need to be fitter – NJ boss

Karen Rosen-Baugh, president of Netball Jamaica (NJ), says the Sunshine Girls must make significant improvements to their fitness levels as preparations continue for their upcoming three-match series against world number-one side Australia.

Rosen-Baugh noted that fitness levels fell well below expectations during their recent 2-0 series defeat to England earlier this month, but says urgent corrective work is now under way, ahead of the demanding challenge that lies ahead.

“As far as I am concerned, we definitely have to up our work on fitness because we could see that coming out of the England series and so that work has started, so our coaching team and fitness team have their work cut out for them,” said Baugh.

The series will be a historic one, marking the first time the Sunshine Girls and Australia will face each other in a standalone series since 2011.

The opening match will be played on February 5 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, before the teams head to Perth’s RAC Arena for the second encounter on February 8. The final game of the series will be contested on February 11 at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena.

Baugh stated that the team’s preparations are ongoing, with selectors and coaches working diligently to assemble the strongest possible squad for the tour.

“The selectors are doing their work and the coaches have been doing what they are supposed to be doing, in terms of preparing the best possible team for this series,” she said.

However, she pointed out that several key players will be unavailable because of injury and personal circumstances.

“Some key members are already unavailable. You know that Jhaniele (Fowler) recently announced her pregnancy and Shamera Sterling is recovering from the birth of her child and Jodi-Ann Ward is recovering from surgery, and so those three players will definitely be out. I won’t be able to say what the team is for this series, I left it up to the coaches and selectors, who are doing their work as we speak.”

Rosen-Baugh underscored that the series is going to be a tough one, even with a full-strength Sunshine Girls squad, pointing to Australia’s status as the top-ranked team in the world.

“Australia is the number-one team in the world for a reason and, even with our full squad, it is going to be a tough series. So we are muscling up and trying to prepare for what that will look like, but all the teams are trying to get a look at each other before the Commonwealth Games. So that is part of our objective as well and then we will give the coaching team some work to do between then and summer when we have the Commonwealth Games,” she added.

Despite the challenges, Baugh remains resolute that the team must embrace the test ahead.

“Of course, it is going to be tough, we expect it to be tough but we have to be ready to face tough teams.”