Seymour: We will replace Lee soon

Cayman’s technical director for netball is not staying on for a second term. According to Cayman Islands Netball Association president Lucille Seymour, Lee chose not to sign on for another two-year contract and preparations are being made for another national coach to be on island before Easter.

“Mrs. Lee, in her letter of intent from the association regarding her contract, made a decision not to renew it,” Seymour said. “The action for replacing Mrs. Lee has already been done through your newspaper and international netball sources. We anticipate another person within a two-month window. This is a job that requires a person who can work independently and be very strong in foundation development. A person who understands that netball is a changing agent and has to be a catalyst for change in our young people for positive development and nation building.

“Netball is to enable life-long health habits which prevent chronic diseases and obesity. Through netball, we must create leaders and valuable citizens with confidence and courage to make a difference in their lives and where they live.”

The move comes as Cayman prepares to send a national women’s team to Calgary, Canada in August for the 2014 American Federation of Netball Associations qualifiers, which are ahead of the 2015 World Netball Championships in Australia. Local tryouts started this month at Camana Bay’s Arts and Recreation Center, attracting veterans like Cynthia Collington, Katherine Maw and Rosemarie Wilson. The association will pick 12 female players to form the team and get into a regular training regimen, with an increase in activities after Easter.

Lee – who oversaw the tryouts with association vice president Lyneth Monteith and local coaches Nicola Williams, Milton Clarke and Orvin Palacio – signed on as Cayman’s national coach back in May 2012. She was previously in Melbourne as Australia’s Monash University Central head coach for nearly a decade. Lee is a highly certified coach who served as coaching director of Netskills, a netball resource centre. She came from a netball family as her mother and two older sisters played and starred on Australia’s national U21 squad. She wrote netball books and assembled a coaching DVD series.

Lee was Cayman’s first technical director in over a decade, filling a post that was left vacant since the passing of Jean Pierre. Her salary, which was $50,000, came out of the $77,393 and $69,654 government budgeted for the sport in the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 purchase agreements, respectively, between Cabinet and the association.

Among Lee’s accomplishments was helping to form and direct the national Under-21 team that finished 17th out of 20 countries with three wins in seven games at the 2013 World Youth Netball Championships in Scotland. She also helped set up the Turtle Netters youth development program.

Seymour said while Lee made great strides locally, she was a small part of the successes seen in the sport the last 24 months.

“The enhancement of netball takes precedence … and the association has to always do what’s best for netball. The job description for the netball development is quite clear and anyone who is employed as a technical director/coach has this as a guide. The association managed for years quite successfully with volunteers who have made many sacrifices to keep the sport alive. Gillian is only one paid employee. The majority of the association work was done by dedicated volunteers. The school netball development is critical to the association; without this, there can be no elite programs.

“Cayman netball continues to emphasize the development of netball at the school level, with intentions of setting a pathway for netballers’ participation at junior and senior level. They also will continue to stress technical development of officials and umpires. Funds and corporate partnership is especially important to ensure the above. These have always been our emphasis before recruiting a coach two years ago. We must always keep in mind high-level competition, but we can only do it by starting with the best foundation at primary level.

“We cannot afford to side step this valuable part of its growth. If we do, we will always be at the bottom. International and regional participation is no doubt our dreams. This is what we wish, this is what we will strive for. We thank Mrs. Lee, we know she enjoyed Cayman – especially the diving – and we wish Gillian success in her future endeavors.”