With the intention of attracting more males to gymnastics, Colombian national Parkour leader Angie Julieth Sánchez Molina is in Jamaica to conduct an introductory course from December 20-22 at the National Gymnastics Training Centre on Slipe Road in Kingston.

Molina is an international Parkour judge and a Member of the Parkour Technical Commission International Gymnastics Federation coach.

Parkour is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing artistic-gymnastic maneuvers.

With roots in military obstacle course training and martial arts, parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, and quadrupedal movement—whatever is suitable for a given situation.

The course is designed to instruct the participants on the necessary information to start up this new discipline in their countries and form a united community that contributes to the development of the discipline in the Central American region of the Pan American Gymnastics Union.

It also aims to grow the number of parkour practitioners and athletes in the region, strengthen the start of parkour in the sports and federation field and encourage the creation of new programs adapted to the style of each country.

According to Nicole Grant President of the Jamaica Gymnastics Association, equipment to facilitate the course arrived about three weeks ago and is being set up for the start of the course on Tuesday, December 20.

Grant believes it was time to introduce a new discipline in gymnastics to the island that has made steady gains in traditional forms of the sport over the past few years.

“We really wanted to introduce a new discipline that appeals to the male population and we find that Parkour is one that more males may be interested in because there is a stigma when it comes on to artistic gymnastics, which is what we do now,” she said.

“So, we are hoping that Parkour, which is also a discipline at the world championships level and will soon be at the Olympics level and we do have a number of youngsters at our gym, especially boys, who are actually doing it but they don’t know that they are.

“Boys like to jump over stuff, they like challenges like that and I think it will definitely appeal to the boys.”

This realization, she said, prompted her to reach out to the Pan American Gymnastics Union about local interest in Parkour.

“It was really at short notice because it’s the end of the year and the year for Parkour is actually wrapping up, so it was a challenge for them to get us to do the course here because you really need the equipment and they so that sent us the equipment, which thankfully came on time and in time for the course.”

It is no secret that Jamaica’s women put on an impressive show at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July.

Theo Edward scored his fourth century in as many matches to lead St Lucia to the title in the 2022 WINLOTT WICB U15 Cricket Tournament at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium on Friday.

The home side defeated St Vincent and the Grenadines by 160 runs to go undefeated in the tournament.

Heading into the decider with three consecutive centuries under his belt, the 15-year-old Edward scored 104 as St Lucia scored 270-7 from their 50 overs, their lowest score of the tournament.

Edward hit 15 fours and four sixes to prop up his side that had slipped to 18-2 in the third over. However, Edward and Tyler Venner staged a recovery with a third-wicket stand of 128 before the prolific opener was dismissed in the 23^rd over.

He faced 78 balls in his impressive knock that saw him accumulate a massive 540 runs from his four innings during the competition.

Venner and Aaron St Clair added 79 for the fourth wicket, a stand that was broken when the latter was dismissed for 38. Venner was next out for 70 but the tail barely wagged as St Lucia reached 270 at the end of their 50 overs.

Lebron Douglas was the best of the St Vincent bowlers with 3-18 and was supported by Elron Glasgow 2-30 and Ozaid Edwards, who claimed the prized wicket of Edward, to finish with 2-58.

St Vincent folded to the St Lucia attack for 110 from 28.1 overs.

Jawayne Adams (24) and Jorden Charles (22) offered minimal resistance to Leon Alexander who had another impressive outing with the ball with 4-39.

Sheldon Willie took 2-3 while Edward chipped on with 1-1 from the 2.1 overs he bowled.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Mujinga Kambundji might be rivals on the track, but the former was among the first to congratulate the latter on Monday after the Swiss star won her first Female Athlete of the Year Award.

The 30-year-old Kambundji had a stellar year in 2022 winning the World Indoor 60m dash in a national record 6.96, a time tied with Merlene Ottey’s as the fourth-fastest in history.

She won the 200m at the European championships and was a close second in the 100m. She was fifth in the final of the 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July where Fraser-Pryce won a record-extending fifth title.

Kambundji was also eighth in the 200m final won by Shericka Jackson. Fraser-Pryce won the silver medal.

On Monday, Switzerland’s fastest woman posted about her latest achievement.

“Sportswoman of the Year. Thank you for your support and congratulations to all the nominees.”

Shortly thereafter, the Jamaican superstar and athletics icon, fierce on the track but affable off it, replied “Congrats.”

The two will renew their rivalry in Budapest next summer when Fraser-Pryce goes after a sixth world 100m title and Kambundji makes another attempt to get onto the podium of track and field’s premier championship.

Akeal Hosein and Andre Russell played key roles in the Melbourne Renegades opening its Big Bash League season with a 22-run win over Brisbane Heat at Cairns on Thursday.

The bad news we all know; the West Indies’ batting is dreadful!

The good news is that help might just be a few years away in the form of a 15-year-old all-rounder from St Lucia.

Theo Edward on Monday scored his second century in two days while helping his country’s U15 team to a massive 403-run victory over Grenada in the Windward Islands WINLOTT Inc. U15 Tournament currently underway at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St Lucia.

Team captain Edward, who turned 15 in October, scored 101 from 81 balls as St Lucia scored a mammoth 482-8 from their 50 overs. Meanwhile, his vice-captain Johnathan Daniel raced to 142 from just 91 deliveries and smashed 17 fours and eight sixes.

St Lucia also got half centuries from Aaron St Clair and Codi Fontinelle, who scored 68 and 60, respectively, to set up the massive total.

Xzavian Rock was the best of the Grenadian bowlers with 4-90 from his 10 overs.

Faced with incredible scoreboard pressure, Grenada folded for just 79.

Captain Jayon Henry led from the front with 25 but Rock’s 11 was the only other score in double figures  against Leon Alexander, who snared 3-14 and Edward 2-5 to complete the comprehensive victory.

On Sunday, Edward scored 198 in St Lucia’s 435-6 on their way to a 298-run thrashing of Dominica at the same venue. His knock included 30 fours and six sixes that came from 143 balls.

Alexander (58) and Daniel (54) also contributed half-centuries to the match-winning total.

Lybird Tharoux was the best of the Dominican bowlers with 4-53 from eight overs.

With the exception of Earsinho Fontaine’s 53 and Kenneth Valmon (21), Dominica’s batters had no answer for Alexander (5-23) and Edward (2-13) as their side crumbled to 137 all out in just 27 overs. No other batter made double figures while four failed to score in the lopsided affair.

Edward harbours ambitions of playing for the West Indies and lists Johnson Charles as his hero. On his current path, he just might be the hero the West Indies needs in just a few years’ time.

After holding out for the past two weeks, Liberta Sports Club will play its first game in the Antigua and Barbuda Premier Division this Sunday but its president, Kenneth Benjamin, has continued to express his concerns over the silence of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Associations’ (ABFA) on the matter of player insurance.

Liberta has been at odds with the ABFA since earlier this year when it’s president wrote to the ABFA asking about the presidency of the association and insurance coverage for players for the 2022/2023 season of the Premier Division.

ABFA General Secretary Rohan Hector told Sportsmax.TV that President Everton Gonzales, who fell ill shortly after he was elected in April 2022, is still in charge and is aware of the daily running of the association as per his instructions.

A week ago, Hector said, Gonzales in a missive, sent word to the clubs updating them on football-related matters including plans to support the clubs with a second tranche of Covid-19 relief funds as well as additional support funding for the teams that have been without competition for two and half years prior to three weeks ago when competition resumed in the Premier Division.

However, Benjamin remains skeptical about the veracity of that missive and is even more concerned about the ongoing silence over player insurance.

Hector told Sportsmax.TV that the FA sent out a form to collect contact information from the players in an effort to speed up the process for new and more robust insurance coverage for players, coaches and officials in the premier division.

However, Benjamin claims that the association already had contact information for the players and that he does not believe that the players are covered even as the premier division enters its third week.

“A member club had a concern and they didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to us,” Benjamin told Sportsmax.TV in response to Hector’s claim and perceived threat about sanctioning Liberta with the possibility of expulsion from the league.

“Before the league, we wrote to them and said what is the situation with the insurance and they didn’t respond and we wrote and said we can’t let our players play without insurance they are working men and they haven’t responded up to now,” Benjamin said Wednesday.

“So for the first two games we didn’t turn up because they haven’t said anything to us. They sent a general email that is not addressing our issue.”

Benjamin indicated that the FA suggested that what the clubs must do is that if there is an injury, the club should spend the money for rehabilitation, submit an invoice and the FA would reimburse the club. This, Benjamin said, was not satisfactory.

“When we saw that we asked them, how much will be reimbursed back, what if someone gets injured in practice are they covered. All of these questions need to be answered before we just jump up and say okay,” he said.

“So those were our concerns, mainly insurance. They are trying to avoid this issue. That is not the way an association functions. All we wanted was a dialogue with them to clear up whether the players are covered.

“We are an organized club. We are not just a team. We have to answer to our members, auditors and all these things. We do those things so we want to know what is it that we are covered for, how much are you (the FA) going to give back if we spend x-amount of money.”

The Penwood Church of Christ Early Childhood Institution in Kingston was on Thursday, December 8, renamed the Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Early Childhood Institution in honour of the five-time World 100m champion and three-time Olympic gold medallist, who grew up in the underserved community.

In addition to the renaming of the school, the church also had a billboard mounted congratulating the athletic icon for her accomplishments this past season.

Fraser-Pryce’s sponsor Nike presented a cheque for US$100,000 while GraceKennedy committed to JMD$500,0000 to a breakfast programme instituted by Fraser-Pryce as well as a lunch programme.

Digicel Foundation, meanwhile, is in discussion about in what way they will support the ECI.

Thursday’s ceremony was several years in the making, according to Raphael Walker, Elder at the Penwood Church of Christ and Chairman of the Early Childhood Institution. He explained that several years ago, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, had declared that in recognition of her athletic exploits, a decision had been made to name an educational institution after the celebrated athlete.

“A few years ago, the Minister of Sport (Olivia) ‘Babsy’ Grange made an announcement. When that announcement was made they started looking for schools to would be named in her honour,” said Walker.

“Shelly indicated that she wanted to be one of the schools that she attended. She attended George Headley, so that renaming wasn’t there, Wolmer’s is named after John Wolmer, so it came down to the ECI that she attended.

“The church met and agreed from then.”

Following the decision, the Early Childhood Commission and Culture, Heart, Arts, Sport and Education (CHASE) Fund renovated the school. “The school was equipped with smart boards and smart equipment, the kitchen was renovated, the playground, the entire school was renovated but nothing had happened since,” the chairman disclosed.

“We got impatient. We said we are going to rename it the Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ECI and when they (the government) decide what they are going to do it will become the Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Infant School.”

Deacon Walker said the occasion was well received.

“The decision was made soon after she won the world title in Oregon. Generally, the church has always done something for her after every achievement. So, in addition to the renaming, there is a billboard that we have put up congratulating for all that she did this year,” he said.

It was well received, there were people from the church, the children of the basic school performed and a citation was given to Fraser-Pryce, who made a ‘powerful’ speech to the gathering.

“It was a very powerful speech that she made conferring her commitment to Waterhouse, the church, the school and a pledge to continue to give back and empower the children of Waterhouse and to make their lives much better.”

Liberta Sports Club could be facing expulsion from Antigua and Barbuda’s Premier Division after failing to turn up for its first two matches this season in protest over concerns about the administration of that country’s football association.

The league resumed two weeks ago after a Covid-19 enforced two-and-a-half-year hiatus but the Rowan Benjamin-managed club has yet to show up for any of their two games against All Stars United and Ottos Rangers FC, respectively, which leaves it at the mercy of the ABFA Disciplinary Committee that will meet in the coming days.

According to Rohan Hector, the ABFA General Secretary, the teams that Liberta was scheduled to play will likely be awarded points and the club could face expulsion from the competition.

“Rule 5.11; if a team does not report for a match except in the case of force majeure recognized by the executive committee or if it refused to continue to play or leave the ground before the end of the match the team will be considered having lost the match and three points awarded to the opponent 3-0,” he said.

He added that the guilty team shall, as a general rule, be subjected to disciplinary action as recommended by the disciplinary committee, which may include exclusion from further participation in the competition.

Liberta, meanwhile, is sticking to its guns while expressing concern over issues which they say the administration has not addressed leading up to the start of the competition.

Among those issues of concern is the appointment of an interim president after the incumbent Everton Gonzales fell ill shortly after he was elected in April 2022. In a letter dated, November 6, 2022, obtained by Sportsmax.TV, President of Liberta Sports Club Kenny Benjamin raised the issue regarding Gonzales’ absence.

“On April 25th 2022 the Antigua and Barbuda FA held its elections where Mr Everton Gonzales was elected as president,” Benjamin stated in the letter.

“Within the same week it was learnt via a radio talk show host that the president had left the country to seek medical assistance. Even at this time of penning this letter there has not been any communique’ from the ABFA to member clubs as to the president’s illness or his whereabouts, the person deputizing for the president as stipulated in the constitution.

“This can be seen as gross disrespect to the clubs and largely, the general public.”

According to the former West Indies bowler, seeing that President Gonzales has been out of office for the last six months, the constitution dictates that if the president is absent or unavailable, the longest serving vice-president available shall deputize.

He continued stating that according to the constitution, if the president is permanently or temporarily prevented from performing his official functions, the longest serving vice-president shall represent him/her until the next Congress.

According to the Benjamin brothers, up to early last week, this matter has not been addressed and there has been no communication informing the clubs of the situation.

However, Hector explained that while President Gonzales is ailing, he is still functioning  in that capacity.

“The president, upon on recognizing his illness and was going away for treatment, issued instruction to his executive on how they were to proceed in his absence,” Hector said.

“So, the president was not incapacitated to the point where he is not aware or has not been involved or been in touch or nor kept apprised of things going on. He is constantly in contact.

“Secondly, there was an update that was sent out to the membership yesterday (Sunday, December 4), that completely deals with that issue has been addressed.”

Player insurance was another issue raised by the Liberta manager.

In a letter dated November 22, Liberta President Kenny Benjamin fired off a letter to the FA inquiring about insurance for players for the coming season.

“Liberta Sports Club is concerned about its members participating in the ABFA’s Premier Division and not been clear about insurance of the players,” the letter stated.

“We are therefore requesting all information and details about the insurance be available to the team manager Mrs. Diane Anthony before our team PIC Black Hawks participation.”

The club manager cited an incident from 2019 when a Liberta player lost a tooth during a match and the club was forced to spend approximately EC$12,000 or about USD$4000 in medical expenses, funds that took the FA some time to refund.

Hector debunked those assertions, stating that the FA paid directly for the cost of getting the player’s tooth repaired. In fact, the general secretary said, the invoice for the player’s dental care was generated on February 26, 2019 and the cheque for said amount was paid on March 3, 2019, less than a week later.

“The ABFA paid the dental surgeon directly to repair the young man’s injuries so this notion there was a reimbursement was completely untrue,” Hector said.

Regarding the wider issue of insurance for the players for the season, Hector explained that the FA has engaged a new insurance company that will provide even more robust coverage for players, coaches and team personnel for the 2022/2023 season.

In response, the FA sent out a form requesting individual  player contact information in a bid to speed up the process of getting everyone insured, Hector explained.

He said what would usually happen is that each club would forward each player’s name using their club’s contact information. However, with the new insurer, the coverage required contact information for each individual player. As such, the FA sent out forms to the clubs requesting said information for each individual player.

“We did not want to slow down the process,” said Hector, who noted that of 43 club teams playing football in Antigua, Liberta was the only club holding out at the start of the new season.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank the other 42 teams for returning Antigua and Barbuda football after a lay-off of two and a half years, to not wonderful support from not only the clubs but also the fans who have turned out in massive numbers to support football in 2022/2023.”

Ashley Khalil has described 2022 as one of her best years ever after cruising to the Women’s Singles title at the Guyana National Squash Championship that concluded on Friday night (December 2) at the Georgetown Club.

Nicholas Pooran has bounced back nicely from the disappointment of the 2022 ICC World Cup, leading Deccan Gladiators to the title following a 37-run victory over New York Strikers in the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 on Sunday.

In the day/night fixture, Captain Pooran scored a 23-ball 40 as Gladiators scored 128-4 from their 10 overs. Pooran’s incredible form with the bat continued in the final, hitting five fours and a six as he and David Weise put on 74 runs in 30 balls after the side reached 54-3 after five overs.

Akeal Hosein had the champions in early trouble after dismissing Suresh Raina and Tom Kohler-Cadmore for seven and 11, respectively, and Wahab Riaz dismissed Andre Russell for nine in the first five overs.

Weise was even more brutal on the New York Strikers smashing two fours and four sixes in his 43 runs that came from just 18 balls. Pollard dismissed Pooran off the last ball of the innings to finish with figures of 1-16 in the only over he bowled.

However, Hosein was the best of the bowlers with 2-16 from his two overs.

Chasing 129 for victory, New York Strikers slumped to 29-4 midway the fourth over and were never able to recover. They suffered another blow when Pollard was forced to retire hurt after scoring 23 from 15 balls.

Jordan Thompson remained unbeaten on 22 while Azam Kkan contributed 16 and was the only other batter in double figures as Strikers could only muster 91-5 from their allotment of overs.

Josh Little, who claimed the wickets of Mohammad Waseem for a duck and Rashid Khan for eight, had the remarkable figures of 2-4 from his two overs. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hasnain took 2-12.

Weise was named Player of the Match for his exciting cameo and taking two catches.

Pooran, who has had scores of 77*, 80, 34, 50 and 38 prior to Sunday's final, amassed 345 runs during the tournament and was named Player of the Series.

Shiaeine Blake, Jamaica's 155lbs Rough Fight League (RFL) Amateur MMA Lightweight Champion, will be fighting for a kickboxing title at the International Combat Sports Championships set for the LB Scott Auditorium in Phillipsburg, St Maarten, on Saturday, December 3.

Blake will be part of an eight-member team that Jamaica sends to the championships considered to be one of the major combat sports tournaments for countries in the Caribbean and Central America.

The team also includes professional fighters mixed martial artist Kasrie Cassells, who will take on hometown boy Akeem Lewis at 185lbs in the feature bout and Nakia Anderson will battle for a title at 145lbs.

Also in the team sponsored by shipping company Aeolus Shipping, Caribbean Dreams and illmatic Services are amateur MMA fighters, Nicholai Reid and Demar Haslam. Blake fights in the amateur kickboxing category along with Roberto Williams, Chris Daley, and Shanice Blake, his sister.

Radcliffe Cunningham, Blake’s trainer explained that while his fighter does not have a record in kickboxing, his accomplishments in MMA qualify him to fight for a title this coming weekend. Notwithstanding his relative inexperience as a kickboxer, Blake, meanwhile, has expressed supreme confidence at coming home with the 155lb title.

“A beautiful victory shall be had,” he told Sportsmax.TV. “My base is in stand up. The groundwork is the most recent addition.

“I have been training in this for a while so I want to go and execute properly and have a beautiful performance. I want something that people will remember because oftentimes you watch fights and it’s just punches and kicks, I want my performance to evoke emotion. I want to display that artistic side of it.”

Having successfully defended his MMA title five times, including his recent victory over Trinidadian Joshua Jones in Trinidad in October, Blake has good reason to be confident. Having been in training all year, he has maintained his competition readiness. But for this coming tournament, he ramped up his preparation.

“I have been training six days a week for the past six to eight weeks but the training has not stopped all year because I have been in competition all year. Training for this, I have been getting in a lot more running, a lot more sparring than I usually do,” he said.

“So the training has been a little bit rough on the body; thank God Christmas is coming soon so we can get a little break and we can eat and not have to worry about diets and all that - but it’s all been done properly and in good faith that we are prepared properly for this upcoming event.”

Winning in St Maarten, he said, would also be a great way to build momentum into 2023 when he launches his campaign to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“I believe I am ranked first in the Caribbean so it is a matter of upholding that rank and lengthening the distance between me and the rest of the field," he said.

“Boxing nationals are coming up in January. I want to use that to qualify for other events that lead-up to the Olympics in two years’ time, so that’s the main medium-term goal I am looking at right now.”

Blake’s ambition and confidence has helped him attract supporting sponsors like Aeolus Shipping that in addition to backing the national team, has also built a strong relationship with the rising MMA star.

“We are so happy to be on board. We are definitely fans of boxing and MMA sports and to know that we have Jamaican talent in this sport is something that we want to highlight and spread awareness and we are looking forward to great things from Shiaeine and this brand partnership,” said Jessica Dewar, Marketing Director at Aeolus.

“We couldn’t be happier to be a huge support to his journey and we wish him all the best. Over the last two to three years we have seen him blossom and grow on his journey to become a huge brand representative for the country and in the international sphere. We are looking forward to seeing him do great things.”

He, in turn, expressed his gratitude for the support being provided for him and the team.

“We couldn’t have gotten the team over there without them and it is something that I have been talking with them about for some time,” Blake said.

“They have always supported the fights that I have. Them reaching out to us shows that there is support and their supporting us in this endeavor -  a lot of times when I compete and post things online people are saying is this really happening in Jamaica - the wider community doesn’t really know about it (the sport) so for them to now be on brand with us helping us to get out there to the wider public, we are really happy about it.”

The team departs Jamaica on Tuesday, November 29.

Nicholas Pooran’s purple patch with the bat continued on Sunday as the Deccan Gladiators notched a close 18-run win over Delhi Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10.

Pooran, who came into the match with scores of 77 and 80, scored 34 from just 17 balls as Gladiators posted 140-2 from their 10 overs.

After losing Jason Roy for four in the first over, Pooran hit three fours and two sixes as he and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore added 122 for the second wicket. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the ninth over by Waquas Maqsood, who took 1-21.

Meanwhile, Kohler-Cadmore blasted his way to an unbeaten 82 with eight fours and six sixes.

He and Andre Russell put on 12 in the final eight balls with the Jamaican scoring 10 that included a six over extra cover off Shimraz Ahmed, who conceded 11 in the over.

Imad Wasim had figures of 1-17.

Delhi Bulls made a good fist of it to score 122-4 from their 10 overs.

They owed their solid effort to a 24-ball 48 from Tim David and Rilee Rossouw, who scored 28 from 15. However, needing to score 14 an over proved too much for Delhi Bulls despite a gallant 14 not out from eight balls from Keemo Paul at the end.

David and Rossouw put on 79 for the third wicket after Tom Banton (12) and Rahkeem Cornwall (2) were back in the hutch in the third over with 26 runs on the board.

Russell got rid of the dangerous David in the ninth over effectively swinging the pendulum in Gladiators’ favour for the remaining 10 balls from which the Delhi Bulls could only muster 17 runs.

Russell’s two overs cost 26 runs but Josh Little proved much more effective with the wickets of Cornwall and Rossouw to return figures of 2-11.

With eight goals in seven matches so far this season Khadijah ‘Bunny’ Shaw is the 2022/2023 Women’s Super League leading scorer. She is tied with Aston Villa striker Rachel Daley, who also has a similar shot to goal conversion rate of 30 per cent with the Jamaican.

What is impressive is that Shaw’s eight goals is one less than the nine she scored in all of last season, her first in the WSL after she transferred from Bordeaux in the French league where her 22 goals in her final season won her the Golden Boot. Those eight goals have lifted Manchester City Women to fourth with 15 points from seven games, after losing their first two matches of the season.

So what has made the difference this season that has seen the Jamaican regain the form that has defined her international and club careers to date?

The 25-year-old Shaw has scored 56 goals in just 38 matches for Jamaica, which makes the Jamaica's most prolific striker, male or female. In college, she scored 27 goals in 35 matches for the Tennessee Volunteers while At Bordeaux, she scored 32 times in 35 appearances for the club over two seasons.

She explained that her dip in form last season was caused by her adjusting to a new style of play.

“I have always been consistent,” she said. “In the beginning, City plays a certain way; they have a structure, a culture and the style of play in France was completely different from what I was used to so when I went to City it was like an eye-opener.”

She said the way City wanted to play was difficult for her to adjust to because even as Gareth Taylor is the head coach, Pep Guardiola’s philosophy is what holds sway.

“Pep plays a massive role in the club and to adjust to the way they wanted to play was very difficult and I was playing for minutes as well,” she explained, having to temporarily play second fiddle to Ellen White, who has since retired.

“After the first year, I looked back and reflected to see where I can get better, how I could improve. I watched a lot of film and when I came in (back from the off-season) I spoke with my video analysis guy and we spent a lot of time together so as the games go on I have tried to improve upon the areas in which I was lacking last season.”

Shaw will have a chance to improve her goal tally when Manchester City Women take on Brighton Hove Albion on Sunday, December 4.

Brighton lie ninth in the WSL with seven points from their seven games to date. They have conceded 26 goals in those seven games, the most by any team in the league this season. They seem ripe for the picking for the goal-hungry Jamaican.