Robert Bailey, Star Writer

Jamaica's Under-21 netballers will begin their quest for a medal today at the World Youth Netball Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, when they oppose Samoa at 1:15 p.m. (Jamaica time).

The Oberon Pitterson-Nattie coached junior Sunshine Girls, who will oppose Scotland in their second encounter on Saturday, arrived in Glasgow on Tuesday, oozing with confidence ahead of the championships.

"We certainly want to leave with a medal. We have worked hard with that in mind. We want to come away with a medal," Pitterson-Nattie said.

"They have prepared a lot. They have worked hard, and they have managed to respond to the proper training that we have instilled throughout the preparations," said Pitterson-Nattie.

"First, we want to defend that third-place position, and then, hopefully, get a better ranking at the end of the championships," she said.

The Jamaicans will enter this month's competition on a high after recording comprehensive victories over arch-rivals England and Trinidad and Tobago in a triangular series last month.

"It (series) gave us some confidence, and it also showed us the amount of work that we needed to do in order to get better," Pitterson-Nattie said.

"We looked at those performances and we added some things. We extended the training, and we tried to push them to the limit to see how well they would do, and they responded well," she said.

The Cayman Islands and Wales are the other teams in Jamaica's group.

Pitterson-Nattie also said it was going to be very difficult for them to compete with world champions Australia and New Zealand for the gold medal.

"It's a lot of pressure because this is a new team, and so we don't have any player returning from the last Under-21 team," she said.

"We know that Australia have quite a few ANZ (Championships) players, which is an added plus for them, and we know that New Zealand have quite a few players in the ANZ, too, so for them that's a plus.

"We know it's going to be tough, but I think we are ready for the task. The competition will be there and we certainly have to stand up to it if we are to do well."

'It (series) gave us some confidence, and it also showed us the amount of work that we needed to do in order to get better.'