Eltham crowned Sandals Netball League champions
Eltham defeated Bethel Town 33-31 in an epic final of the Sandals/Beaches Ocho Rios Eltham Netball Community League recently at the Eltham Community Centre.
In the third place play-off Conquest were in fine form staving off Couples 32-20 in an exciting encounter.
The final match was a grand affair with the highly fancied Eltham expected to have their way against the Bethel Town team. This, however, proved not to be the case as the underdogs came out firing on all cylinders and gave the champs all they could handle.
Kurt Dale from Eltham was the star of the match scoring 20 goals from 23 attempts and was ably assisted by tournament superstar Kimberley Hudson with 13 of 16 tries. For Bethel Town Michael Donaldson was the leading scorer with 15 from 19 tries, while Keira Christie netted 12 from 18 tries and Jessica Ramsay four from four.
In the third place play-off, Conquest came out on fire and dominated the Couples team which tried gamely to make a match of it. Conquest were paced by Raheem Wallace with 14 goals from 19 attempts and Sanjay Lugg with 13 from 16. Ricardo Turner with 12 goals from 17 tries and Simone Maragh with eight of 12 were the main contributors for the Couples team.
Eltham team captain Kurt Dale was elated with the win. “It was a tough match and hats off to Bethel Town who played an excellent game. However, we were determined to come out victorious,” he noted.
Dale thanked the sponsors for coming to the aid of the organising committee and assisting in making it a success. “Thanks to Sandals and Beaches as we had an amazing competition and could not have done it without them,” he noted.
Sandals Resorts Regional Public Relations Manager for the Ocho Rios region Ian Spencer noted that the company was elated with the standard of play and the level of discipline displayed by the teams throughout the competition.
“We are extremely pleased particularly with the discipline shown by the teams and the fact that members of the community came out week after week and supported the teams and the players. This augurs well for the future of the competition,” Spencer added.”
The regional public relations manager thanked the three general managers in the area — Brian Roper, Ramel Sobrino and Arnold Nugent — for their vision in assisting the community league, adding: “We recently upgraded the Eltham Community Centre through a joint project between the Sandals Foundation and Jet Blue Airlines and we are so happy to see the place being properly utilised.”