Elaine Lamour Davis (born 21 September 1976) is a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n international

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player. Fresh out of high school, she got her baptism in international sports when she was selected as a member of the national senior team, the Sunshine Girls, for the ninth World Netball Championships held in Birmingham, England in 1995. Davis officially debuted for the Jamaica national team during the

1995 Netball World Championships The 1995 World Netball Championships was the ninth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Birmingham, England and featured a record 27 teams. South Africa returned to competiti ...

against

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, and has played goal shooter for most of her career. Playing for Jamaica at the Birmingham Tournament marked the beginning of a glorious, unbroken 12-year run of local, regional and international representation of her country on the netball court. In 1998, she played at the Commonwealth Games held in Malaysia; and friendlies against New Zealand and South Africa in 1999 were followed by a tri-test series against England. She was selected as a member of the team for the World Netball Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1999. Here, she emerged as the third highest goal scorer of the entire tournament. Saving the best for the historic World Netball Championships held at the newly built National Indoor Sports Centre in 2003, Elaine was pivotal in positioning Jamaica at third place behind the formidable Australia and New Zealand teams. She subsequently led the national team to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia; and guided the Sunshine Girls to success over Caribbean neighbor, Trinidad and Tobago in a test series that same year. Not even the intense pain of five knee surgeries between 1996 and December 2006 deterred her from becoming one of Jamaica's best netball players in history and arguably their best Goal Shooter of all-time. Throughout her career she competed in four

Netball World Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and t ...

and three

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. Davis also played for the

Auckland Diamonds The Auckland Diamonds were a regional netball team which represented Auckland- Waitakere and Counties Manukau Netball in New Zealand's National Bank Cup. For the 2008 ANZ Championship the Diamonds merged with the Northern Force to create the Northe ...

in New Zealand's

National Bank Cup The National Bank Cup was the pre-eminent national netball competition in New Zealand between 1998 and 2007. From 2008, it was replaced by the ANZ Championship. Format In the rounds, each team played every other team once, then the top four teams ...

in 2000. After the

2007 Netball World Championships The 2007 World Netball Championships was the 12th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball co-ordinated by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Sixteen nations contested the ...

, Davis announced that she will be taking a break from all forms of netball. In 2014, she was the starting Goal Shooter of the Kingston Hummingbirds, and led them to the national title, becoming the first winners of the inaugural Elite Netball League.

Awards

The 2001 recipient of the Carreras Sports Foundation Special Award, she was also named Jamaica's Sportswoman of the Year for 2002–2003. In October 2007, she received the

Courtney Walsh Courtney Andrew Walsh OJ (born 30 October 1962) is a former Jamaican cricketer who represented the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, captaining the West Indies in 22 Test matches. He is a fast bowler and considered one of the all-time greats, best ...

award for Excellence from Prime Minister

Bruce Golding Orette Bruce Golding (born 5 December 1947) is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to h ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Elaine 1976 births Living people Jamaican netball players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Jamaica Netball players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in netball Jamaican expatriate netball people in New Zealand 2003 World Netball Championships players 2007 World Netball Championships players Auckland Diamonds players