USA Hosts Bank of America World Youth Netball Championships, Florida – July 2005
FORT LAUDERDALE – United States of America Netball Association Inc. (USANA) announced their final 16 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 year marks the first time the US has entered a team for the World Youth Netball Championships and is testament to the enormous effort made by USANA Inc. to grow Netball at the grass roots level. The Bank of America World Youth Netball Championships, Florida marks the impact Netball has made in the US since the inception of USANA Inc. in 1992.
Since that time, Netball Associations, Clubs, Contacts and Facilities have been developed in over 35 of the 50 states with major participation coming from the Eastern Sea board states, Texas and California. Most recently, more focus has been placed on introducing Netball into local schools such as Orange High School in New Jersey where one of the girls has been selected to play in the squad. Florida, the host state, has 7 players in the squad representing 4 clubs.
Other states represented are California, Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey and New York. This year sees two pairs of sisters selected for the final 16 USA squad – Sara & Nerida Peever from Thousand Oak Comets in California and Ashlin & Zoe Humphreys from Easy Spirits in Florida.
The current selection and representation by State is as follows. A further selection of 12 players will be made shortly:
Sara Peever- Thousand Oak Comets- California, Nerida Peever- Thousand Oak Comets-California, Renee Thompson- Solidarity- Connecticut, Simone Brown-Winners – Florida, Ashlin Humphreys- Easy Spirits- Florida, Zoe Humphreys- Easy Spirits- Florida, Danielle Kyberd- Easy Spirits- Florida, Taneisha Morrison- Caricom – Florida, Jheanelle Whyte- Gold Stars- Florida, Tamara Witter – Sparkles- Florida, Keisha Douglas- Gems- Georgia, Krystle Lemonias- Orange High School- New Jersey, Karen Bleasdell- Senators- New York, Joleen Farrell- 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 16 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.
For more information, visit the WYNC2005 web-site at www.wync2005.com or the USANA web-site at www.usanetball.com.
