WITH the 2023 Netball World Cup set to tip off in Cape Town, South Africa today, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association Christopher Samuda is hopeful that he’ll be able to witness the elevation of the sport to the Olympic stage. Samuda believes the sport has enough credentials for the relevant authorities to consider making it an Olympic sport.
“Netball has a long and distinguished history and, on that basis alone, it should get serious consideration for the Olympic agenda. Secondly, it is a sport that is played across the board by men and women, so it’s a dual sport that I think would be a very good credential for the Olympic agenda. Thirdly, it offers our young people another option and we should be giving our people a myriad of options so that they can have an impact on the Olympic stage,” he stated
Earlier this month, netball made its debut at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, which was hosted in San Salvador, El Salvador and was won by Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls who defeated Trinidad and Tobago 50-36. Samuda is of the opinion that witnessing netball being played at games such as the CAC puts the sport in a better position to gain consideration.
“I believe it’s also a sport that can telegraph a lot of values to our young people. The more regional and international games that it (netball) is played at, it then puts it in a very favourable position to be considered an Olympic sport,” Samuda said.
The JOA president shared two factors that he thinks might be the underlying issues which have prevented the sport from making its Olympic debut.
“There are several sports that are competing (for Olympic recognition) and the very fact of competing makes it difficult to go over that hurdle. Also, it’s not a popular sport globally, compared with other sports, so those are the two considerations that I think have to be addressed in order to ensure that it goes on the Olympic agenda,” he said.
Samuda also shared that, in order for the sport-loving public to witness netball on the massive Olympic stage, there are a few steps that have to be taken.
“It demands principally an administrative network, a powerful commercial strategy, a robust marketing strategy and unchallenged performance metrics that demonstrate value across the board, all with the objective of taking the sport strategically into uncharted territories,” Samuda concluded.
