Business House Netball Association equips Herbert Morrison after Hurricane Melissa

The Business House Netball Association has stepped in to support the Herbert Morrison Technical High School netball programme, supplying equipment and other materials after Hurricane Melissa left the Montego Bay school badly damaged in October last year.

Concerns had mounted that the school’s players would be unable to contest the upcoming ISSA season. Those worries eased once the association delivered the donation that keeps the programme on track.

Association president Karen Wynter-Stanley said the aid came from gate takings at last year’s Business House semi-finals and finals. After the 2025 season, she explained, the council agreed that money collected at those matches would go toward Melissa relief.

“After our season, after our 2025 season last year, well, for the semi-finals and the finals, we decided as a council that everything that we collected at the gate would have been contributed to Melissa relief,” Wynter-Stanley said. “And so this is just basically gate proceeds from the finals and the semi-finals last year.”

Under-16 and under-19 coach Shelly-Ann Gayle said the storm cut the previous campaign short and left many of the girls affected physically or emotionally. With the new backing, she said, the squads are keen to resume training and rebuild both on and off the court.

“And because of that, the ladies were saddened that we had to reduce at such an early time, and majority of them would have been affected by Melissa physically or mentally,” Gayle said. “And now that we have the opportunity to be back in season due to this huge sponsorship that we have received from Netball Business House Jamaica, we are more than grateful and elated and can't express more than enough how thankful we are for this opportunity to be back on track and to improve not just as athletes for the ladies, but also their holistic development.”

Under-14 captain Melania Osbourne said the new kit should lift preparation and results as the school looks ahead to ISSA under-16 netball.

“As a team receiving this equipment, I know that it's going to allow our training to improve and our performance in the upcoming ISA U16 netball season,” Osbourne said.

Acting vice-principal Claude Grant said the gift matters for a school that treats netball as a signature sport and wants students able to compete and feel supported when corporate Jamaica invests in their growth.

“It's important for us when we see corporate Jamaica, when we see entities like this, Jamaica Business House giving back, it means that they want growth,” Grant said. “They want the students to feel good. They want the students to participate.”

The ISSA netball season is due to begin in September.