Now that was a week of netball!
Rollercoaster games, big wins, a personal surprise, and one minute of fame for a mad parent.
Round 5 did not disappoint. Well, it did a little for us at Mavericks. We travelled to the Ricoh, which was a familiar journey for me. The usual stop-off at Watford gap to grab a peach iced tea. However, this journey was to play my previous team Wasps, now as a Saracens Maverick.
I have to say it felt a little strange at first being at my old home venue, but this was short lived, after being literally pounced on by Fran Williams – one of my closest friends off court, but fierce competitors on.
Walking out on court soon put the earlier butterflies to rest. You could feel that the whole team were so up for this. The game started a little slow, but it didn’t take long for Raz and Jo to start turning over ball, which the mid-court worked hard to feed to both me and Kads. We finished the first half drawn with Wasps.
- Sky Live: Mavericks v Bath
A few half-time changes for both teams and Wasps managed to settle sooner than us, again it didn’t take long to get into the Mavericks flow, and we finished the game just four goals short. I say just four goals, it felt as if we should have got the win.
I have to say, at the end of the game, the Wasps fans didn’t disappoint they were so nice to me. You always think when you change teams that the fans will just forget you but this just isn’t the case. The fans from both teams are awesome, definitely feeling the love!
To top the game off, I then had to listen to my dad, all the way home – only two hours, go on not about the game, but that he was interviewed on Sky. Let’s hope this is his only minute of fame, as I don’t think I could listen to it all again. Bless him, and his hat.
As a family, I have to say we all love to wind each other up and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Both dad, mum and even my big brother Jake, have always supported me, driving me all over the country, watching every game and giving me loads of positives and ‘honest feedback’ which means it ‘didn’t go as planned’ and means there’s ‘room to improve’. I definitely prefer hearing the positives, which is one of dad’s favourite sayings “Always pick a positive” although I do struggle picking one when practising my shots in the garden and it’s minus 2!
- Fast5 All-Stars Championship returns
So my personal surprise last week was to find out I had won January’s Vitality Superleague player of the month! Wow, totally unexpected but really appreciated. Great start to the season for me as I’m sure there were many players being considered. Always loads to learn and improve on but hopefully, this shows I’m heading in the right direction.
I’m super excited for this Saturdays game v Bath at the University of Essex in Colchester, it’s a big venue and will be a big game against a really experienced Team Bath. It will be awesome to see how we shape up against them as our connections are getting stronger and stronger with every game. Come down and support us, soak up the atmosphere in the crowd or if not switch your TV on for a 6pm start on Sky.
As it was Valentine’s this week, I just want to say happy Valentine’s to you all and I hope you had a good night. I got to spend it with a sweaty bunch of ballers at Mav’s training session!! Wouldn’t have it any other way!
Saracens Mavericks v Team Bath is live on Sky Sports Action and Mix at 5.45pm on Saturday.
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