She is a founding member of the Nevis Netball Association, which started way back in April 1972. She has served in every executive position in the Association. She became President of the Association in 1986, after retiring from active playing, as a dynamic goal shooter. She was president, intermittently, until 2012, when she ‘retired’.
However, after several years of just observing, Jeannette Grell Hull did not like what was going on with her beloved sport and after attending the recent AGM of the Nevis Netball Association, mainly to give her views on the way forward, found herself accepting the leadership role, one more time. This time at age 75.
“My plan is to give it one more year. I want to get Netball back as one of the main sports on the island and with the help of my executive, the government, the sports department, and the people who love Netball, I plan to make sure that it happens,” she stated with conviction, in a recent interview.
Jan Grell Hull witnessed the humiliating start of competitive Netball for Nevis when Trinidad and Tobago created a record by beating Nevis 117 to nil, in a tournament held in St.Kitts, in their first year of competition, to the glory days of Nevis establishing a home for Netball, with the construction of the now Grell Hull-Stevens Netball Complex, to Nevis successfully hosting a Caribbean championship.
Now she bemoans the state and condition of the Netball Stadium, named in honor of her late mom and the equally hard-working Dora Stevens.
Some of her stated goals, within the one year period, are:
• To get the home of Netball renovated
• To see Netball back in the schools, as a base for the sport
• To get Netball back into the community, with the formation of clubs
• To see Nevis once again excel at the sport.
The question is: Will she really retire after that? With a wry smile, she admits: “Once I am in my right mind and God gives me the health and strength, I won’t just sit down, if things are not right.”