Pitterson-Nattie

Jamaica's Sunshine Girls head coach, Oberon Pitterson-Nattie, believes the recently concluded Americas Federation of Netball Association Caribbean Championship served as good preparation for the team ahead of their upcoming three-match series against England.

The Sunshine Girls returned to the island yesterday after defeating host nation Trinidad and Tobago 60-40, on Saturday, to regain the regional title; their 11th overall.

Pitterson-Nattie knows that tougher challenges are ahead, starting with the away series against England between September 21 and 26.

"It was very important that the young players got the opportunity on court and this tournament was good for us, but we are certainly looking forward to playing England in September," Pitterson-Nattie said.

"This was really a test to see how they would perform in tournament conditions and they did well," she added.

In recent years, there has been a healthy rivalry between the two teams, with vital matches in the Commonwealth Games, 2010 in Delhi, and the World Netball Championships, in 2011, in Singapore, both going England's way with them clipping Jamaica for bronze medals at both competitions.

Pitterson-Nattie knows that in order for Jamaica to turn around its fortunes against the third-ranked English team further improvements are needed. Jamaica are currently ranked fourth, just behind England in the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) standings.

"We have to improve on our court game and we still need to create space at times," Pitterson-Nattie stated. "We need to spread the court some more, use the court effectively and let the ball work for us," she added.

Jamaica secured easy victories against the other teams in the tournament, as in addition to win over Trinidad and Tobago they defeated St Lucia (72-31), Grenada (107-13), Guyana (124-8), Barbados (65-37), United States (87-19), Bermuda (94-15) and Canada (79-19).

"It was really hard to keep the focus, because some of the games were that easy, so we used it as an opportunity to execute things that we have always had difficulty doing," Pitterson-Nattie said.

"I am pretty satisfied with the performance; we had some good performances, some struggles, but the good thing is everybody had a chance to go on court and they all received adequate playing time, so I am pleased with that," she added.