A youthful Yvonne Williams Willis is all smiles with her winnings at a presentation ceremony for netball. National player, Yvonne Williams Willis (front), leads from the front as she represents Antigua and Barbuda

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By Neto Baptiste

Tributes continue to pour in following the death of former national netballer, administrator and coach, Yvonne Williams Willis, who passed on June 2 after being ill for some time.

President of the Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association (ABNA) and former national player, Karen Joseph, described Willis as a ‘pillar of strength’, noting that the former coach mentored her during her early years in the sport.

“Netball has lost a legend in Mrs Willis and she had been a pillar of strength for netball in Antigua and Barbuda. She contributed on an international stage to Antigua and Barbuda and we have lost an icon, a legend in the field of netball, and I must say that I was pleased that I as able to work with her. She moulded me from school days and she was basically part of my [growth] in netball so she was like a netball mother to me,” she said.

Former national player and former administrator, Agatha Dublin, also spoke highly of her former national teammate and local rival.

“I am calling with a heavy heart to say goodbye to a big sister, a matriarch of netball and a mother to most of the netballers we know today. In terms of one of her significant accomplishments, Yvonne was one of the longest reigning captains of the Antigua and Barbuda national netball team,” she said.

Iconic former West Indies fast bowler, Sir Andy Roberts, said he worked alongside Willis for a number of years and always admired her passion and drive for the sport.

“May her soul continue to rest in eternal peace. She was one of Antigua’s greats and it’s a pity she did not get what she deserved when she was around. Wayne [Willis’ husband], I express my condolences to you personally and when we meet again on the beach then we will continue with that. When Yvonne was at her peak, I was also away plying my trade but we worked together in the sports department for a number of years and you could see that she knows her stuff. I think that Karen Joseph had learnt a lot from her and she is one of the greatest netballers to come out of Antigua if not the greatest,” he said.

Willis, a former goal shoot, played locally for the National netball team. She was the number two ranked goal-shoot behind Jean Pierre at the 1979 World Championships in Trinidad. Following her stellar playing career, Willis coached at the grassroots and senior national levels for quite some time.