BERMUDA will "be up against it" when the national netball team travels to Jamaica this summer for the World Championships.

And while the Bermuda players are not expected to meet world champions Australia - at least initially - they will be severely tested by other teams who will have a lot more international experience, said Bermuda Netball Association president Debra Saltus.

Saltus said she is trying to get netball back in the spotlight in Bermuda. "I am tryng to get more netball awareness for the public right now. It is a recreational sport but it is also something the young people can aspire to. Netball is not played enough in the schools as it was years ago. I would like to see more of it played. Unfortunately over the past number of years it has seemed to be going down the tubes in the schools. But that is where we are going to get out national players from - especially for the future. When I went to school we trained after school even if there were no (sports) teachers there. It seemed there was a lot more commitment and dedication then."

And compared to many of the other teams in the Worlds, Bermuda simply does not get any support - either from fans or financially.

"The one thing that all the other teams get which we don't get is support. If you go to all the Caribbean countries, companies and firms there give the players time off to take part in tournaments and the team gets a lot of sponsorship. We just don't get that here. It is amazing. Every year we get invitations to a Caribbean tournament and many times we cannot go. And the people down there say, 'Bermuda is one of the rich countries - why can't you send your team?' It is hard for them to understand that we cannot afford to. We pay our own way."

While Govenrment does give the BNA a budget every year, that money has been going into coaching and umpiring. "That is one of the areas we want to improve. We now have four qualified Level One coaches. We brought in Jillian Oliver from the All England Association and she conducted our clinics for us. She has done four and now national coach Carol (Bean) and myself will do another four clinics. Jillian will be coming back to take us to Level Two and others to Level One."

While the World Championships are held every four years Bermuda goes only once every eight years - when they are held in the north. "They alternate the Worlds with the north and the south and when they are in the south in places like Australia or New Zealand, we simply cannot afford to go."

The team of 12 players have been putting in extra training for the Worlds since October. Saltus said: "We have been doing a lot of physical training with Tony Mouchette and our national coach Carol has been working with our skills and tactics. We have been doing a lot of drills - working on our catching, footwork and different plays. There are two designated shooters in netball and we have asked them to put in some time training on their own as well - in fact we have been asking all of our players to put in time training on their own. And you can see those who are putting in the extra time."

While the netball centre is at Bernard Park, the team will go and train at Bull's Head carpark when it is raining. "We utilise whatever we can," said Saltus.

And to counter the cost of going to Jamaica for the Worlds, the team have been raising money through various things like bake sales and recently they packed groceries at Lindo's. "We also had a fun men's tournament and we are having another one because that one was so well received."

The men also played the national team a couple of weeks ago and although the women won, Saltus said: "I must admit if the men had known more about the game they would have given us a good run. The men have more strength and are taller and that was good to face because our team tends to be smaller compared to others in the Worlds." Saltus, who following her playing career went into umpiring which has taken her to New Zealand and Australia, said she believed that Australia would again come away with the world crown. "They are that good," she said adding that she expected to see New Zealand and Jamaica vie for the second place spot along with England and Trinidad.

"But Australia are just so good," she said. And she has seen how the Aussie women managed to get to be on top of the world.

"They are so professional. Before they go to an international tournament they have a netball camp where they sleep, drink and eat netball. Everything is the best. And they have lots of sponsorship. If they fly Quantas somewhere for a tournament they don't pay. I have been down to Australia twice to umpire at international by invitation. I don't pay for anything. It is so well organised and funded. I have umpired games like Trinidad against Australia and Australia against South Africa which was very exciting. It was the first game South Africa played in internationally after the apartheid era. It was very historic. That was the highlight of my netball career. And in Australia or New Zealand you get thousands coming to watch. I have umpired a game in front of 8,000 fans. It was a thrill."

While Bermuda only goes to every other World Championships, Saltus would like to see the island first of all go to the Under-21 tournament in the US in 2005. "If we can get the younger players to aim for that after these Worlds I think we should be ready by 2005," she said. And the BNA chief also would like to see a triangular tournament played every year (expect World Championship years) between the US, Canada and Bermuda.

"The only way to get better is to play more international tournaments against good opposition. But again money is our biggest problem. We do not have a proper venue to charge admission and we need spectators who will pay. Most of our funds come from fund rasing."

The large advertisements one has been seeing in the newspapers lately have been paid for by Cable and Wireless in the Caribbean. "They are sponsoring the Worlds. They have put quite of bit of money into the tournament and I was quite surprised that they sent up a nice big advertisment promoting it and us," said Saltus.

Bermuda has been running two leagues - the Winter League from October to March which has nine teams - and the less serious Commercial League which runs form April to June. "Many players compete in both leagues. The Commercial League is supposed to be only for fun but it is beginning to be a little more competitive. I am not sure if that is a good idea because many people just want to go out and have fun and then there are the experienced ones which can kill it for them."

And the BNA started a Junior League two years ago and that has shown some promise. Saltus said: "We have just finished our second year and it seems to be growing. The first year we had 75 kids and this year we had 95."

Saltus also has one more plan - to get to the Commonwealth Games. Bermuda were just nipped out for a spot by Canada the last time for the Manchester Games but Saltus said: "We will be ready for qualifying for the next games."

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Bermuda's team for the 2003 World Championships:

Bismillah Richardson, Bertha Liverpool, Sia Spence, Reeshemah Swan, Roydelle Robinson, Jadirra Harvey, Erika Russell, Wenda Godfrey, Gina Christopher, Kimale Evenas, Jennifer Simmons and Stacia Ming.