Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Florida Netball Association (FNA) announced that a record number of girls will represent their home state as it plays host to the first World Youth Netball Championships held in the USA. This historic event and milestone in the growth of USA Netball – the 5th Bank of America World Youth Netball Championships – will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from July 21st to July 31st 2005. The girls have been selected to the Final 16 and further selection within the squad is expected shortly.
The following girls have been selected from local Florida clubs: Simone Brown – Winners Sports Club, Ashlin Humphreys- Easy Spirits Netball Club, Zoe Humphreys- Easy Spirits Netball Club, Danielle Kyberd- Easy Spirits Netball Club, Taneisha Morrison- Caricom Netball Club, Jheanelle Whyte- Gold Stars Netball Club and Tamara Witter- Sparkles Netball Club.
Ashlin and Zoe Humphreys are one of two pairs of sisters who have been selected to the final 16. The other pair – Sara and Nerida Peever – live in Thousand Oaks, California. Ashlin and Zoe both attend boarding school at Roedean in the UK. Ashlin has an impressive track record of playing netball – starting at the age of 11 in Jamaica where she played on the Under 12 Jamaican National School Girls team. Since then she has played at County level in the UK where she was U16 Sussex County Player of the year and was captain of her team for two consecutive seasons. Like her sister, Zoe is a strong athlete, and was introduced to netball while in Jamaica. She was captain of the school team for two consecutive years and is the youngest player on the USA squad. Jheanelle Whyte attends Northeast High School, started playing Netball at age 6 in Jamaica, and has her sights on becoming a dermatologist. Tamara Witter attends Piper High School and besides Netball, also plays soccer and has won medals in Track and Field for Pole Vaulting, High Jump, Long Jump, 4x100m relay, 4x 400m and 100m at School Championships in the Cayman Islands. Taneisha Morrison is a pupil at Dillard High School and also started playing netball at the age of 11 in Jamaica and trained with the Under 16 Jamaica National Squad.
“I love Netball and I want everyone in the country and the World to know about this fabulous sport.” said Zoe Humphreys, the youngest member of the USA squad. “I love the way everyone works together on court. It’s not like individual sports where you are trying to achieve something for yourself. In Netball we all help each other along so we can all achieve something”.
“We have an extremely talented squad and it’s been very difficult to select the final team from the huge talent pool in the US” said Sharon Fluxman, coach for the USA Youth Squad and founder and Vice President of California Netball Association. Fluxman is extremely excited about the opportunities to showcase netball at the championships and wake the USA up to Netball.
“I am very happy for all the girls” said Edina Bayne, President of Florida Netball Association. “They have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate just how exciting Netball is and why more youth and adults in the US will benefit from playing this sport. Netball is a team sport that has extensive reach in many areas of the globe, unifying people from all walks of life – different cultures, different nationalities and different professions.”
