# Jamaica national netball team

The Jamaica national netball team, commonly known as the Sunshine Girls, represent Jamaica in international netball competitions. Netball is the number one women's sport and the number one team sport in Jamaica, and the majority of the schools in Jamaica participate. Netball receives full media coverage on television, radio and in newspapers but does not get as much coverage as less successful team sports such as football and cricket. Jamaica were coached by former representative Oberon Pitterson and captained by midcourt veteran Nadine Bryan until the end of 2013. In early 2014, a Technical Director (Jill McIntosh) and new coach (Minneth Reynolds) were appointed. As of 1 July 2020, Jamaica are fourth in the INF World Rankings. The senior Jamaican netball team is widely known as the Sunshine Girls; the Jamaican Fast 5 netball team is known as Jamaica Fast5 or the FAST5 Girls.

## History

Netball in Jamaican schools started in 1909. In 1959, the Jamaica Netball Association was formed and affiliated with the West Indies Netball Board. Jamaica was invited to compete at the 1959 West Indies Tournament held in August in Montserrat.
Since their debut international game in 1959, the Sunshine Girls have participated in every INF Netball World Cup, never finishing below sixth. Jamaica placed third in three World Championships – in 1991, 2003 and 2007. They have played in all six Commonwealth Games netball events to date, winning a bronze medal in 2002 in Manchester, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland and 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia.
Pitterson was appointed the new head coach for the Sunshine Girls at the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore. Longstanding captain Simone Forbes did not attend the World Championships after testing positive the banned substance Clomiphene and was replaced by Nadine Bryan. Forbes subsequently retired, ending her illustrious career. After failing to medal in 2011, some of the experienced players on the squad decided to take a break from the national team, while Althea Byfield chose to retire, as they had grown disgruntled with embattled coach Pitterson. Malysha Kelly & Romelda Aiken took over co-captaining duties at the 2013 Fast5 tournament and Kelly continued to captain the team in the first half of 2014. Nicole Aiken-Pinnock took over as captain ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and also captained them at the 2015 Netball World Cup. The team has since won bronze medals in both the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, with the latter medal having been won against two-time gold medallists New Zealand.

## Players
### 2022 squad

The current squad was selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

### Notable past players

* Connie Francis
* Elaine Davis
* Simone Forbes
* Carla Borrego
* Oberon Pitterson

### Most-capped Jamaican netballers

| Name | Test Caps | Test Team Years |
| Nadine Bryan | 159 | 1996–2014 |
| Oberon Pitterson | 120+ | 1988–2006 |
| Connie Francis | 120+ | 1985–1999, 2003 |
| Georgia Gordon | 110 | 1994–2005, 2010 |
| Simone Forbes | 102 | 2000–2011 |
| Elaine Davis | 91 | 1995–2007 |
| Nichala Gibson | 79 | 2000–2009 |
| Kasey Evering | 78 | 2002–2011, 2012, 2014 |
| Nicole Aiken-Pinnock | 78 | 2005–2011, 2014–present |
| Sasher-Gaye Henry | 75 | 1996–1997, 2006–2011, 2014–2015 |
| Romelda Aiken | 74 | 2005–present |

## Competitive history

Netball World Cup :
| Year | Championship | Location | Placing |
| 1963 | 1st World Championships | Eastbourne, England | 5th |
| 1967 | 2nd World Championships | Perth, Australia | 6th |
| 1971 | 3rd World Championships | Kingston, Jamaica | 4th |
| 1975 | 4th World Championships | Auckland, New Zealand | 5th |
| 1979 | 5th World Championships | Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago | 5th |
| 1983 | 6th World Championships | Singapore | 5th |
| 1987 | 7th World Championships | Glasgow, Scotland | 5th |
| 1991 | 8th World Championships | Sydney | 3rd |
| 1995 | 9th World Championships | Birmingham, England | 5th |
| 1999 | 10th World Championships | Christchurch, New Zealand | 4th |
| 2003 | 11th World Championships | Kingston, Jamaica | 3rd |
| 2007 | 12th World Championships | Auckland, New Zealand | 3rd |
| 2011 | 13th World Championships | Singapore | 4th |
| 2015 | 14th World Cup | Sydney, Australia | 4th |
| 2019 | 15th World Cup | Liverpool, England | 5th |
| 2023 | 16th World Cup | Cape Town, South Africa | 3rd |
Netball at the Commonwealth Games :
| Year | Games | Event | Location | Placing |
| 1998 | XVI Games | 1st Netball | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 4th |
| 2002 | XVII Games | 2nd Netball | Manchester, England | 3rd |
| 2006 | XVIII Games | 3rd Netball | Melbourne, Australia | 4th |
| 2010 | XIX Games | 4th Netball | Delhi, India | 4th |
| 2014 | XX Games | 5th Netball | Glasgow, Scotland | 3rd |
| 2018 | XXI Games | 6th Netball | Gold Coast, Australia | 3rd |
| 2022 | XXII Games | 7th Netball | Birmingham, Australia | 2nd |
Fast5 World Netball Series (formerly Fastnet) :
| Year | Tournament | Location | Placing |
| 2009 | 1st World Series | Manchester, England | 2nd |
| 2010 | 2nd World Series | Liverpool, England | 3rd |
| 2011 | 3rd World Series | Liverpool, England | 4th |
| 2012 | 4th World Series | Auckland, New Zealand | 4th |
| 2013 | 5th World Series | Auckland, New Zealand | 3rd |
| 2014 | 6th World Series | Auckland, New Zealand | 4th |
| 2016 | 7th World Series | Melbourne, Australia | 5th |
| 2017 | 8th World Series | Melbourne, Australia | 2nd |
| 2018 | 9th World Series | Melbourne, Australia | 2nd |
| 2022 | 10th World Series | Christchurch, New Zealand | 6th |
| 2023 | 11th World Series | Christchurch, New Zealand | 5th |

## Kit suppliers

Jamaica's kits are currently supplied by Gilbert.