* Barbados 2003 *

Lincoln City Netball Club. Barbados Tour Report.

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After two and a half years of preparation and fund raising, the Lincoln City Netball Club Barbados Tour finally hit the road on 15^th August 2003. The tour party and their respective friends and families had worked their socks off with such memorable fund raisers as bus bingo, extortion rackets (a.k.a. raffles and lotto) and the never-to be-forgotten-or-repeated Japanese music evening. As well bonded and motivated a squad of 28 as you could wish for left Manchester airport for a fortnight of sport and leisure in the Caribbean.

All concerned in the tour party can be proud of their performance on and off court. A good impression of Lincoln’s sporting prowess, sociability and good humour was left behind, not just at netball venues but also including:

The Wanderers’Cricket Club - the venue for Ricky’s Caribbean Disco Extravaganza. The seasoned tourists among us thought they had seen every sort of disco action there was…until the locals demonstrated how to get close up and friendly, Barbados style. Free buckets of rum punch helped to quench the dancers’ thirsts and encourage cross-cultural fraternisation. Star tourist - Abby.

The Gap Bar - 100 metres down the road from our hotel serving food, drink and stardom, in the form of a karaoke machine twice a week. Who can forget Bohemian Rhapsody with ten Freddy Mercurys, Sara as Tina Turner, and Pam’s body being possessed by the devil during Rivers of Babylon?
Star tourist - Pam.

The beach - site of the tourists’ aquatic triumphs on the banana boat, jet skis and The Patriot wave munching machine. Pete demonstrated poor core strength by being the only one to fall off the Patriot, but redeemed himself by being the only one brave enough to try the cycle/surf board. He fell off and lost his sunglasses in the shallows.
Star tourist - Elaine “Psycho Jet Ski Jockey” Booth.

The Island Safari - There is no better way of seeing the island than from the back of a Jeep with your mates and a flagon of rum punch. Compulsory community singing will be remembered by all en route. Star tourist - Pam.

The Malibu Rum Factory - who would think stupendously large vats of browny-black gunge could be transformed into the clubber’s favourite tipple? The tourists now know the secret. Shame about the rain. Star tourist - whoever bought the eight foot high inflatable bottle of Malibu.

The Entertainments Evening - all tourists starred equally as their carefully crafted performances left the audience spellbound with rupture.
Star barman - Nigel.

The Netball

The majority of the netball fixtures were played at the Barbados National Netball Stadium, a few miles from the capital, Bridgetown. Three outdoor concrete courts with floodlights and a grandstand provided the site of our triumphs (5) and defeat(1). Rocky, the grizzled scorer, helped to make us feel at home while we waited for the opposition to materialise from their day jobs. We lost one fixture to torrential rain and one to the opposition not turning up. The rest were played in fierce heat and humidity, even when the sun had gone down.

Our one outlying fixture was on the public court against Unity Stars. The public courts have double use for basketball and netball. The netball ring and basketball ring and backboard are on different sides of a rotating pole. So a quick twist of the pole brings the relevant target into play at the end of the court.

Two squads, an under-16 and a senior team, played against local opposition. The u-16s would play first, followed by the seniors. Slinky netball dresses had been made specially for the tour and allowed all to move and sweat freely.

 The netball was played in tropical conditions but the Lincoln players rose to the challenge and showed the value of regular physical and tactical training. They were acknowledged as one of the best touring squads to visit Barbados in the past five years.

No tour would be complete without a degree of unplanned mayhem. In this case it was a servicing problem with our plane, leaving us stranded at Barbados airport at 2 am. Hastily arranged free hotels, free food and three more days lounging by the pool and on the beach were the heavy price the tourists had to pay before we were taken home by charter flight.

Lincoln City Netball club would like to thank the many people who supported their fundraising efforts, which helped to make the tour so successful.

Report by Peter Sturton, secretary LCNC.