The president of the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA), Marva Bernard, says there are not enough qualified coaches to meet the demands of netball, which was growing in popularity.

“In addition, it is only fair that our athletes should be guided by certified coaches. They deserve nothing less,” said Bernard, who was speaking at the opening ceremony for the training of the second batch of candidates, who will be certified as level one netball coaches in the programme run by the University of Technology (UTech) and the JNA.

Bernard said the JNA is working to put an end to the situation of untrained coaches coaching netball in Jamaica. “The JNA and the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) are determined that we should have only certified coaches coaching in the ISSA competitions and in the JNA leagues.”

The acting head of the Caribbean School of Sport Sciences at UTech, Orville Byfield, told the opening ceremony, which was held on the UTech campus on Saturday, April 6, that the trainees would receive the knowledge and skills that they would use to improve the sporting performance in young athletes and by extension contribute to Jamaica’s development.

Twenty participants are registered in this second cohort for the coaches training, which will end on May 12, 2013. Two other such training courses will be held during the year.