United States of America Netball Association Inc. (USANA) announced their final 12 players for the USA Youth Squad who will represent their country at the first World Youth Netball Championships to be hosted by the USA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from July 21st to July 31st 2005.
This news comes on the eve of the start of the Bank of America sponsored 5th World Youth Netball Championships. Florida, the host state, has 50% of the players in the squad representing 5 clubs. New York players make up 25% of the squad with the remaining 25% coming from California and Connecticut. This year sees two pairs of sisters selected for the final 12 USA squad – Sara & Nerida Peever from Thousand Oaks Comets in California and Ashlin & Zoe Humphreys from Easy Spirits in Florida.
The current selection and representation by State is as follows: Sara Peever – Thousand Oaks Comets- California, Nerida Peever- Thousand Oaks Comets- California, Renee Thompson- Solidarity- Connecticut, Simone Brown- Winners- Florida, Ashlin Humphreys- Easy Spirits- Florida, Zoe Humphreys- Easy Spirits- Florida, Taneisha Morrison- Caricom- Florida, Jheanelle Whyte- Gold Stars- Florida, Tamara Witter- Sparkles- Florida, Karen Bleasdell- Senators- New York, Saskia Small- Senators- New York and Alicia Browne- St Lucia Pitons- New York.
“Netball is arguably the most popular women’s sport in the world and is played by over 20 million people in over 85 countries worldwide” said Sonia Rodney-Johnson, President USANA Inc. “We are proud to be the host nation this year and are equally proud to be entering an extremely talented youth squad to represent the USA. This is a first on both counts and is an extremely important event for the future of Netball Worldwide and in the USA.”
“We have been lucky in that we had a very talented pool of individuals to select from and making the decision on the final 12 was an extremely tough one for us” commented Yvonne S. Thomas-Antoine, D.M.D., USA Team Manager. “We hope the Bank of America World Youth Netball Championships 2005, will bring even more visibility to this dynamic sport and help clubs, across the country, expand their numbers and attract funding to fuel future growth.”
Sharon Fluxman, USA Coach for the Youth Squad noted “The team understand the importance of this event and are very keen to make a huge impact. They are all extremely proud and excited to be representing their country.”
Netball is an exciting 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.
