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• USVI secures 2-1 win over hosts Trinidad & Tobago in Davis Cup Americas Group IV round robin

  The US Virgin Islands secured a 2-1 win over hosts Trinidad & Tobago in Davis Cup Americas Group IV Round Robin play at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua on Tuesday.

  The hosts got Tuesday’s tie off to a winning start with Kamran McIntosh-Ross securing a dominant 6-0, 7-5 win over Tomas Del Olmo in an hour and 21 minutes.

  McIntosh-Ross had an excellent day on serve, winning 80% of his first serve points and saving all three break points faced.

  The 20-year-old also was able to break Del Olmo’s serve four times.

  Overall, the Trinidadian won 71 points compared to Del Olmo’s 47.

  USVI levelled proceedings at 1-1 when Jan Neuburger-Higby beat Luca Shamsi 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.

  Neuburger-Higby won 79% of his first serve points and converted all four of his break opportunities on Shamsi’s serve on his way to a comfortably victory.

  The tie then came down to a doubles match between T&T’s Kale Dalla Costa and Alijah Leslie and USVI’s Del Olmo and Neuburger-Higby which the USVI pair dominated on the way to a 6-2, 6-3 victory.

   

• New beginning: T&T’s Andre Raymond at home with St Johnstone after jail-time disrupted opportunity with SC Braga

  Trinidad and Tobago's Andre Raymond knows all too well that opportunities in football often come with their fair share of challenges and setbacks. Though those setbacks are sometimes harrowing, much like his jail-time experience in Portugal, Raymond, like the professional he is, has learned to smile in the face of adversity.

  In fact, it is Raymond's resilience and determination that ensured a bad situation took a positive turn and brought him back on track to pursue his professional dreams, as he recently signed with St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, where he had an encouraging start in a 2-0 win over Morton on Saturday.

  “I was very happy with my debut. I needed to get some minutes in the tank and build a bond with the team and the intensity was really high—it was really good,” said Raymond, whose last competitive outing was a friendly international against Guyana in May.

  “I didn’t know the coach [Craig Levein] had asked Dan [Phillips] about me. Then, in March, I got a phone call saying he was interested. He’d done some research and liked what he saw, so things started moving then. I made my mind up straight away; I wanted to join St Johnstone because the Scottish league is a top league,” he told The Courier.

  Prior to his move to Scotland, Raymond, whose speed, defensive acumen, and ability to contribute offensively made him a sought-after player, caught the eye of scouts from various clubs, including SC Braga, one of Portugal’s top football teams.

  The opportunity to sign with Braga seemed like the perfect next step in Raymond’s burgeoning career. However, his aspirations were abruptly halted by an unexpected turn of events.

  

  During his trip to finalize the deal with SC Braga, Raymond was detained by Portuguese authorities for overstaying on a previous visit. This oversight resulted in him being thrown into prison for two days.

  “I was at university in America and did one semester. While I was at home, my friend was going with an academy team to Spain. I was dropping him off at the airport, and the coach of his team asked me what I was doing and why I wasn’t playing football and going with them,” Raymond recalled.

  “He wanted me to go with them, so he spoke to my dad about it, but my mom was saying, ‘No way, you have to go back to school,” he shared.

  In the end, Raymond managed to persuade his parents, and a few days later, he joined the Academy team in Spain for the tournament.

  “After that, we went to Portugal, and I ended up with Braga, but then some stuff happened—I got arrested because we’d been away from home for so long, and I ended up staying for four months instead of three. I went back home to get my documents and then back to Portugal for pre-season with Braga, but they didn’t let me in and threw me in jail,” Raymond explained.

  “I was in there for two days; it was horrible. I was allowed a 15-minute phone call and locked in a cell. I know it was only two days, but that was enough. It was a new experience, that’s for sure, and I wouldn’t want anyone to go through it,” he added.

  The detention not only affected Raymond personally but also jeopardized his professional prospects. The deal with SC Braga fell through as the club, wary of the legal complications, decided not to proceed.

  

  For Raymond, it was a devastating blow, as the young defender was on the brink of a significant career milestone.

  “They sent me back to Trinidad, and I had to spend three months out of Europe before I could go back. But, because of the length of time it was, Braga had moved on and signed another left-back, and that left me without a club.

  “I felt like giving up football again, to be honest, but I got the chance to sign for Vilar De Perdizes, so I decided to do that. My mom wanted me to go back to school, but my dad said I should push on and keep going,” Raymond revealed.

  Through resilience and his father’s unwavering support, the now 23-year-old continued to push and inevitably caught the attention of St Johnstone through a timely referral from his Soca Warriors teammate Dan Phillips.

  Now a part of the St Johnstone squad, Raymond is eager to leverage his skills and experiences to help the Perth-based club succeed while continuing to develop as a player.

  “I spent the last few months of the season watching the team play, looking at the players, the style of play, and the atmosphere in the stadium. All the time I was speaking to the manager and hoping they would stay in the Premiership, and I was very happy that they did,” Raymond said.

  “I wanted Dan to stay, but he has goals and aspirations of his own. We still speak a lot. He told me to come here because it’s a good club and I would fit in here. He said that my style of play would match up with Scottish football, and I’m feeling that too because I like to defend, but I also like to get forward,” he ended.

• ‘She’s the greatest’: Fever’s coach Ryan praises Jamaican superstar Fowler-Nembhard

  Dan Ryan has never been shy about his admiration for Jamaican Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard and so it comes as no surprise that the West Coach Fever head coach believes the towering goal shooter is the best to ever grace that position in netball history.

  Fowler-Nembhard celebrated her 35th birthday by putting on yet another shooting masterclass in the Fever’s Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) League minor semi-final victory over Sunshine Coast Lightning at the RAC Arena in Perth on Sunday.

  The five-time league MVP scored 67 goals from 69 attempts—the two missed chances being late Super Shot attempts—as the Fever downed the Sunshine Coast Lightning 72-62 to book a preliminary final date with Melbourne Vixens. 

  On the back of that performance, Fowler-Nembhard extended her lead atop the Nissan Net Points (1704.5) standings as well as the goals scored ladder, shooting her 880 goals with 96% accuracy.

  For Ryan, the Perth-based franchise could not have asked for a better first-choice goal shooter.

  “She’s the greatest goal shooter our game has ever seen,” Ryan declared. 

  “Because she has such high standards every single weekend, everyone has such incredibly high standards for her.  We’re so grateful that she’s in our team, and we have a real priority to ensure we get the best out of Jhaniele, with who sits in front of her,” he added.

  Beyond her scoring abilities, Ryan also praised Fowler-Nembhard’s leadership skills, which he pointed out often come to the fore when her compatriot and goal attack Shanice Beckford has an off-game. 

  “She’s been an incredible leader. The way she’s leading that front line, she’s happy to take a 2v1 if she needs to, and she’s backing in Shanice when she needs to. We’re seeing mum mode from Jhaniele out there, and we absolutely love it,” Ryan noted.

  

  Shanice Beckford

  Fowler-Nembhard’s perfect first half performance kept the Fever in touch with the Lightning, 16-18 at the end of the first quarter, before the 2022 champions put the foot down in the second half to keep their premiership hopes alive. 

  They outscored the Lightning 36-27 after the main break, had nine gains—eight of which they converted to goals—and five defensive rebounds to put an end to the Lightning’s season.

  The performance was much to the delight of Ryan, who believes the manner in which his team upped their tempo in the second half augurs well going into their next encounter.

  “We’ve been tracking really nicely over the last month and playing some great netball. We knew we were in a good spot heading into Sunday’s game, and we really wanted to make sure we found an extra gear,” Ryan reasoned.

  “The first half was a real grind and a real challenge, and we were certainly under the pump. I am really proud of the girls for the way they stuck at their jobs, and when the moments popped up in that second half, we took them. To win by ten in a do-or-die semi-final is an amazing result.” he shared.

  The Fever’s renewed form in winning their last four encounters, comes at the right time, following a mid-season wobble that saw them slip from the top of the standings into third place at the end of regular season play.

  Those off colour mid-season games, Ryan said, have served as motivation for his side, which is now aiming to possibly carry their rich vein of form all the way to the grand final against reigning champions Adelaide Thunderbirds.

  But first, West Coast Fever will have to get past the Vixens on their return to John Cain Arena this Saturday. 

  “Our team has been on a really important journey across the season, and we always connect back to the mid part of the season where we went win-loss-win-loss for a while,” Ryan stated. 

  “The learnings we were getting out of those moments were invaluable, and we’ve got great confidence now in these pressure games. We’re really grateful for another opportunity to play netball under finals pressure; we know we’re in great form and we’re going to be really hard to beat at our best,” he ended.