Young guns aim to shoot high

THE future of island netball becomes the present on Sunday. Guernsey, under the guise of Nerine, begin their second South Region campaign with an away fixture against Applemore and they travel with a squad made up largely of teenagers.

In the absence of player-coach Sonia Grant-Yendell, who is taking a year's break from the sport due to a knee injury, Gill Queripel has taken charge of the team, all of whom she has brought through the junior ranks.

'We have got a very young squad this season,' she said.

'But although they are very young, they have a lot of experience already.'

Unfortunately, the coach's daughter, Claire, misses out on the opening fixture in Fareham due to work commitments. But it is a boost for the island squad that she is back playing after taking a year out to have a child and she will strengthen a group who have 12 scheduled regional matches this season, with the teams playing each other home and away.

'We are hoping to do really well, but it is hard to predict,' said Queripel.

'Some teams are ones we know such as XL, who we have played before and beaten, but others are an unknown quantity.

'It is a bit of a mixed bag, really.'

Applemore are one of the unknowns after they opted out of a trip to the island last season due to cost.

The extended fixture list, though, should prove to be good for the local players because they will be exposed to a higher standard of opposition.

'We are hopefully going to alleviate the traditional problem with the introduction of the Super League next year and the Premier League this season is a step forward.'

The coach was keen to emphasise that although Nerine was the only club represented in the current squad with other youngsters such as Anais de Carteret and Donna Brehaut likely to be involved throughout the season, the squad is an island one for the South Region.

'They have done away with county competitions, so you have to enter under a club name. At present, the squad are all Nerine girls, but that can change.

'Sarnians have got some good girls coming through and although it might take two or three years, hopefully we will have a few of those filtering into the island ranks.'