Ferns Team Together At Last
The countdown to Glasgow is on and no-one is counting the days more than Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu.
With less than three weeks until competition starts at the Commonwealth Games, Taumaunu has finally got her hands on the whole team and start realising plans which have been in place for months if not years.
Netball is one of 17 sports to be contested at the Commonwealth Games and with the ANZ Championship ending just a matter of weeks ago, the NZ Netball team have only this week gathered as a unit for the first time since the team was named last month.
The result has been a somewhat disrupted build-up with nine of the team attending two four-day camps held in Auckland in June. Three Kia Magic players, Casey Kopua, Leana de Bruin and Ellen Halpenny only connected with the team this week following a compulsory two-week break from Netball duties after their ANZ Championship finals campaign ended a fortnight ago.
Now making the most of the time together, the 12 players are focussed and preparing for what they know is going to be a tough campaign across the other side of the world. The team are being put through their paces to make sure they’re on track, collectively and individually to hit peak performance later this month.
As well as training for the physical aspects of the game, time is also being spent making sure the players have the mechanisms to cope with life in the pressure cooker of a Commonwealth Games with the expectations of a nation on them.
Being back to back Commonwealth Games champions comes with a certain amount of pressure but the team are staying firmly grounded and concentrating on the task at hand.
The five-day camp this week has been filled with trainings, media requirements and other key components which make up preparation heading into a pinnacle event. The team have a week to acclimatise when they first arrive in the United Kingdom, making use of some of England’s top training facilities in Bath, before making the one hour, 20 minute flight north to Glasgow.
First up for the NZ Netball team is Malawi on July 25th followed by four more pool games against hosts Scotland, Northern Ireland, Saint Lucia and Jamaica. The top two teams in the pool progress through to the semi-finals.