Craig Hendrickson (third right), National Baking Company Director of Sales & Marketing poses alongside (L-R) Sunshine Girls Jhaniele Fowler, Theresa Beckford, Amanda Pinkney, Shanice Beckford and Crystal Plummer, as well as Netball Jamaica Board Members Simone Forbes, Karen Roen and Tricia Robinson after announcing the company’s $10 million sponsorship of the team.
The National Baking Company is now a major sponsor of Jamaica’s national netball team, the Sunshine Girls. As part of its corporate efforts to support a wide range of national development initiatives and programmes, the company committed a total of JMD $10 million towards the team for the season and the Netball World Cup.
Craig Hendrickson, National Baking Company Director of Sales and Marketing made the announcement at a cheque handover ceremony on Tuesday, January 3. Speaking at the event, he declared the company’s support as a matter of ‘national pride’. “National pride for us means supporting our own,” he stated. “And as a country that is always looking to our national sports teams to represent us well, to give us ‘bragging rights’ and to raise the flag high, it is our duty to support the Sunshine Girls.”
National’s contribution is set to support the coaching efforts and provide aid to the team’s Development Programme which selects, grooms and prepares the next level of players as a feeder for the National Team.
Meanwhile, a few of the team members and representatives from Netball Jamaica who were present at the handover, expressed their gratitude for the contribution from National after years of bemoaning the ongoing struggle to attain adequate sponsorship for the team.
In response to this latest sponsorship, Captain Jhaniele Fowler shared, “It’s really good. They see in us what I hope other people will see in us. So thank you to National for coming on board, we really appreciate it because it will go a far way in helping us to especially prepare for the world cup.”
And Netball Jamaica President, Tricia Robinson expressed “Our budget for the world cup is approximately $51 million, which is a huge sum, and so all the support that we get from corporate Jamaica is welcomed. We have to raise those funds ourselves and therefore National coming on board today and contributing $10 million is a step in the right direction for us and we’re extremely grateful.”
Ahead of their last international outing before the Netball World Cup, Sunshine Girls (L-R) Theresa Beckford, Shanice Beckford, Jhaniele Fowler, Amanda Pinkney and Crystal Plummer donned brilliant smiles as they posed with the ceremonial $10 million sponsorship cheque from National Baking Company.
She added that Netball Jamaica remains hopeful that National’s move to sponsor will ignite other corporate companies to sponsor the team as well.
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