World Netball

President of Americas Netball and World Netball Board Director for Americas, Bernard will take on the role of being World Netball’s Teamwork Ambassador, while Sunshine Girls defender Sterling will become the Athlete Ambassador for the Americas region.

Immersed in the netball world for over 40 years, Bernard is credited with being the driving force behind taking the sport to new heights during her 10-year tenure as Jamaica Netball Association president.

Commenting on the announcement, World Netball President Liz Nicholl said: “Over the years, Marva has made an incredible contribution to netball, working with our Members, Regions, and netball family to develop and grow the sport in new and existing territories, all with the ethos of improving the lives of netballers educationally, socially and economically. So many women around the world have benefitted from Marva’s dedication and teamwork, so she is the perfect choice to represent World Netball’s Teamwork Value – ‘we work effectively within and across regions.”

Looking forward to her role, Bernard said: World Netball Names Marva Bernard and Shamera Sterling As Ambassadors.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have been invited to take on the role of Teamwork Ambassador ahead of World Netball’s exciting new chapter. I strongly believe that netball associations around the world are there not only to develop the game but as a force for good, to improve the lives of netball players under their charge.

“Being a team player is second nature to me and I am cognizant that it is impossible to achieve success without collaboration, cooperation and acknowledging the contribution of others. As Teamwork Ambassador I will continue to work hard to ensure that our sport continues to flourish and grow globally.”

Sterling is one of the world’s most exciting netball talents, currently stamping her authority on the world’s best netball competition, the Suncorp Super Netball league with her team Adelaide Thunderbirds.

Commenting on the announcement, World Netball president Liz Nicholl said:

“Shamera is a passionate, exciting, and skilful player who has set the netball world alight. She is a popular and inspiring role model for women and girls at all levels of the game and a brilliant advocate of our wonderful sport.”

“She has made a huge impact not only for her country’s national team but also in Australia as part of the Adelaide Thunderbirds squad and I’m positive that she will be an influential force as we continue to grow our sport and inspire our community.”

Commenting on her role, Sterling said: “I’m honoured to have been chosen as the World Netball Athlete Ambassador for the Americas. I’m really keen to inspire the next generation of netballers as well as grow our sport around the world, so I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow ambassadors to achieve this.”

World Netball will be revealing a team of ambassadors representing the organisation’s newly launched Values of Excellence, Teamwork, Heart, Integrity, Courage, Athlete and Leadership. Together, the Values reflect World Netball’s commitment to operating within an ethical framework.

Both Bernard and Sterling were two of the first famous faces to appear in World Netball’s ‘Your Netball World’ virtual mosaic, which brought together netball faces and stories from all over the globe to celebrate the international netball family.

The Sunshine Girls who defeated world number-one Australia and number-two New Zealand before losing to Australia in the final, have climbed a spot to number three in the world rankings released on Monday.

Meanwhile, Barbados’ Gems failed to win a single match at the Commonwealth Games and have dropped two places to 14^th in the rankings. Trinidad and Tobago, meanwhile, fell one place to 11^th.

According to World Netball, “Since the last WN World Rankings update published, on  March 1, 2022, many international test series and events have taken place including the PacificAUS Series, Europe Netball Open Challenge, COSANA Tri-Nations Series, Wales International Test Series, Netball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers – Oceania, and most recently, the 38 matches at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“Within the top six teams Jamaica has moved up to third in the world, whilst England has dropped to fourth, this comes after Jamaica made history at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games making their first final and winning a silver medal.”

World Netball said the new rankings mean that world number-one Australia, New Zealand (2), Jamaica (3) and England (4) will now be invited to compete at the NWC2023. Uganda (6) will also be invited; they have also qualified through their world ranking, due to South Africa (5) pre-qualifying as hosts.

The Netball World Cup 2023 Qualifier – Oceania has already taken place with Tonga and Fiji qualifying to be invited by World Netball to compete at the event.

Tonga finished unbeaten at both the PacificAUS Series in March 2022 and the Netball World Cup Qualifier Oceania in July 2022.

World Netball requires teams to have played six or more matches in the ranking period to be eligible for a World Ranking.  Tonga has reached this threshold again and they now regain a world ranking, entering 9^th place in the world.  This is a remarkable achievement as their highest previous ranking was 19^th.

Malta (35) Israel (39) and Switzerland (45) have also regained a ranking after playing the required number of matches by competing at the Europe Netball Open Challenge in May.

The success of Tonga has led to Scotland moving down one place to 10, and Trinidad & Tobago and Northern Ireland also moving down one place to 11 and 12.

There have also been many changes lower down the table with Barbados, Cook Islands and Samoa all moving down two places, whilst the Republic of Ireland have moved up four places to 24^th after winning the Europe Netball Open Challenge.