Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) coaching coordinator Maureen Hall is currently on the Island sharing her wealth of expertise with local netball coaches.The former Jamaican national team defender and coach was invited to the Island by Bermuda Netball Association (BNA) as part of an ongoing endeavour to raise the standard of coaching.Hall’s itinerary includes conducting various workshops and a Level One coaching certification programme for local netball coaches.”My role in Bermuda is to assist coaches to become better coaches essentially,” she told The Royal Gazette. “And so far all the coaches have been extremely enthusiastic and very receptive and these are characteristics of a good coach.“Based on what I’ve seen I think I can assist coaches by getting them to plan their training programmes ahead and break down and structure their sessions so that skill development can take place in an effective manner.“I think the programmes here just need a little more structure. You just have to structure the sessions and sensitise them to the techniques so they (coaches) can enforce them in their programmes.”As well as her role with AFNA, Hall is also heavily involved in netball in her homeland where she serves as High Performance Director for the Jamaican Netball Association.She was a member of the Jamaican national squad between 1980 and 1986 and later coached her country for 14 years. During that period she took the Sunshine Girls as high as third in the world rankings and coached them to famous victories against powerhouses New Zealand, Australia and England as well as multiple AFNA Championships titles.Earlier this year, Hall assisted Bermuda’s netballers at the AFNA Championships in Trinidad and Tobago where the team came away with a sole win against Guyana in their final group match.“I provided some assistance at the AFNA tournament and they liked what I did so they thought I could add some value,” she said.Through better coaching, Hall believes Bermuda can become a reckoning force within the Americas region.“In order for Bermuda to compete and compete well in tournaments such as the AFNA Championships, I think they have to improve the standard of coaching,” she added.With the domestic winter netball season due to start on October 6, Hall’s visit could not have been more timely.“The season is coming up so we need to get the coaches prepared and I thought this was a good time to have her to basically give the coaches a refresher,” said BNA president Tracey Sharrieff.