Althea Byfield ... The school thing didn't work out and so I decided, 'Let's go back to the old me', which is playing netball and basketball. - File

CHANCES ARE if Althea Byfield had persevered with sprinting, she might have been one of Jamaica's medallists at the Beijing Olympics.

In other areas of her self-professed great love - track and field athletics - particularly the field events long and high jump, it probably could have been the same. She even established herself in basketball while diverting from one area to the next as her skills became more apparent at United States institutions initially spurred by her exploits on the track. And she even has talent for football too.

Whether it was by choice, or even coincidence, the 25-year-old standing over six feet who is packaged with skills to fit any sporting discipline, is making her presence felt for Jamaica on the netball courts and the Sunshine Girls are every inch better for it.

"I think I am a well-rounded athlete because I have tried track and field and this is my first love. I went to high school for track and field, got a scholarship in 1998 to go to Iowa University and I didn't take up the offer," the confident-speaking Byfield said. "And then I tried basketball and after two months, I got a basketball scholarship because whenever I try to do something I always try to do my best," she said.

"I used to run the 100m and the 200m at Queens, then I tried the long jump and it was painful because it had an effect on my knees. I tried high jump and this was the easiest for me because it was very rare that I practised and for three consecutive years I finished third at the Boys' and Girls' Champs without practice."

The recent tri-series involving Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa, which took place at the National Indoor Sports Centre, served up both a timely reminder and national return for Byfield, with several of the team's senior representatives missing, as well as her non-participation in the previous Caribbean championships.

To say the goal keeper's contribution to the Sunshine Girls success was invaluable is an understatement.

The other half of a twin completed by her brother Ian, Byfield was basically all over the place, darting out of nowhere to make telling interceptions, outjumping all and sundry to rebounds under the pole and posting up in such an experienced manner that opposing shooters had a hard time getting close to the pole for a shot.

At one stage, during the first game against South Africa (SA) when the visitors appeared to be closing the gap, she was reintroduced to grand approval with noisy celebrations from the crowd. The gap suddenly, but not surprisingly, began improving again.

"I am surprised but I feel really good to know that the crowd enjoyed the way that I played," said Byfield. "I don't normally get this type of response because the last time it happened was last year when we played, England. "After the second game, I think I had an average game but when I was introduced for the third Test, the crowd responded like today," she said after the SA game. "I think once you do well consistently you will always have the crowd support behind you because last year we lost 3-0 to England, but whenever I was introduced, they welcomed me."

Narrow losses

The losses were narrow but significant under a new ranking system which sees England ranked third, one place ahead of Jamaica, despite finishing behind the Sunshine Girls at the World Netball Championships.

The nationals are using this series to correct that and Byfield says they are wary.

"Right now we are working on playing England because we are using these games as a warm-up. The big games will be in England in February and we intend to go there and do our best," she said. Despite the influx of several newcomers, she's confident Jamaica will prevail.

"I don't think we can beat them, I know that we can beat them. Age has nothing to do with it because all the players who are on the team, except for two players, have represented Jamaica at the international level before."

Byfield has won medals as a standout for Queen's at Girls' Champs, which paved the way for a track scholarship to the United States, where she ended up pursuing a major in commerce at Texas A&M where she later switched to basketball.

Byfield, who turns 26 this Friday, said: "I had to stop playing netball for a while and reduce the time that I played basketball as I was at Texas A&M University doing commerce and I needed four more classes to graduate to complete my first degree and I waited two years, and after two years I found out that I needed eight classes to graduate and I was driven to get it over with, and so it is on hold for another year.

"The school thing didn't work out and so I decided 'Let's go back to the old me', which is playing netball and basketball."

Clearly, it's working for Byfield. And who knows, the multi-talented guardian of the Sunshine Girls' net probably would have proved world class if she had chosen to defend Jamaica in another sporting discipline.

Wanna bet?