UTT pulls out All Sectors Netball League

UTT has opted to forfeit its participation from the 2020 Courts All Sectors Netball League (ASNL) due to the increase in local spread of covid19.

After the league’s five-month’s postponement, the tournament was scheduled to resume at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya on Monday. Three of the six teams, however, forfeit by not showing up ot being unable to field a full team.

In the Championship Division, Jabloteh earned a default win after UTT’s no-show. Additionally, in the Retro Division, Police X and TSTT recorded similar victories as Jabloteh turned up with an ineligible number of players while Police Y was also absent.

Although no matches were played on the first day, two Championship encounters between TSTT and Police X (32-22) and Defence Force against Police Y (35-14) were played on Tuesday.

On day three (Thursday), UTT was scheduled to return to the court against Police X. Once again, the tertiary team was a no-show, handing the latter another default win.

Speaking to UTT coach Bridget Adams,on Friday, she said the team has chosen to stay away for multiple reasons.

“We catered for the competition to be concluded at the end of March 2020. Due to covid19, the league was unable to be completed on its original schedule. We were all set to play but due to the increase in positive coronavirus cases recently, the parents of our students have not approved of their children to play in the league,” Adams said.

The current health crisis has also made three of UTT’s guest players unavailable for the tournament’s duration.

Meanwhile, the change of venue may have also played a factor. The annual competition is usually held at the Eastern Regional Indoor Sporting Arena in Tacarigua. This venue remains unavailable since the adjoining National Racquet Centre is being used by the Government as a quarantine facility for confirmed covid19 cases

According to Adams, the switch in courts also served as one of UTT’s demotivating factors to return.

“The surface of the chosen playing court was not approved for playing by the coach (Adams). In addition, our guest players are not available.”

Thus far, the Alternate Division is the only completed competitive category. TT Post captured this season’s title ahead of runners-up MIC and third place Las Lomas. For their respective trophy/medal presentation, a representative from each team was asked to collect their winnings at the venue on Thursday.

Matches continue over the next seven days with the Championship and Premiership Division titles to be decided on August 15.