When it comes to preparing for a Netball World Cup, the significance of training and match play cannot be overstated. The journey to the pinnacle of netball excellence requires a comprehensive approach that encompasses both physical and mental readiness.
Training camps are well underway for Scottish Thistles as they look at honing their skills, improving fitness, and developing on court connections.
Meanwhile, match play offers a crucial testing ground to assess strategies, refine gameplay, and build the resilience necessary for success on the global stage.
Head Coach, Tamsin Greenway and assistant Sara Francis-Bayman have put together a intense and exciting training schedule in the lead up to the teams departure to Cape Town at the end of July.
“We wanted to make sure we have the best possible prep heading into the Netball World Cup and match play is a huge part of that. We had the All Stars game 1st July in Glasgow and now the training match against Wales which will be really big for us. We are so evenly matched with them in lots of ways but we also want to expose ourselves to different styles so we will also have some warmup games when we get out to South Africa too.”
Scottish Thistles played off against a selection of Netball Super League All Stars in an exclusive training match hosted by Netball Scotland 1st July at Emirates Arena.
Reflecting on the match, head coach Tamsin Greenways says she is thrilled with where the squad are at this point in their World Cup build up.
“I’m really pleased with the World Cup build up so far. I thought we showed some exciting potential in the All Stars game. We were pleased to come away with the win but more than that – we have been working on some different styles of play and ways that we want to approach the game and I thought they attacked that really well. I actually thought that the All Stars team were excellent, to have that Severn Stars defensive with Jo Tripp who has been outstanding all year was really helpful for us.”
“Standout for us were Bethan (Goodwin) who shot 47/49, I thought she was incredible. It was so nice to see the attack end shine with Iona (Christian) who I thought was brilliant and Emma Love who really stepped up and so it was really great to see our attack end take us over the line.
There is still loads to come but I couldn’t be happier with where we are at at the moment in terms of our build up.”
Looking ahead to next weekend and the Scottish Thistles will be back in match play, this time facing off against Wales in a live streamed match.
“We know Wales will be a tough game, we know historically what it means for Scotland playing Wales and we know it will be in front of a crowd so all those things tick a box for us of feeling the pressure.”
“Making sure that players are prepped and ready for high intensity games is huge.
One of the big things we are trying to with Wales is play them more regularly so it’s not such a big deal when we come into World Cup Qualifiers and we have more familiarity around them so that is another big part of the decision to play them.”
“It will show the players where we’re at, we are putting in some different tactical elements as we move into World Cup. We have such a wide array of teams we are going to be playing with Malawi, Barbados and England and they are all going to offer different things so it’s really important that tactically we are able to practice things against tough opposition.”
“The goal is always to perform, it’s never about winning at this stage, I mean the win is nice but we are going to be trying combinations, we are going to make sure tactically that we’re practicing some things and as long as we are performing on the things we are working on then I’ll be happy.”
“There is always that added pressure of playing in front of a crowd as well and I think that is so important for the players. When we get out to the World Cup it’s not behind closed doors so making sure they can step up and perform under pressure is a big area we have been trying to work on and you can’t just talk about that, you have to actually put them in environments where that happens.”
Wales Feathers vs Scottish Thistles
Sunday 9th July
House of Sport, Cardiff
FCP 3.30pm
Details of streaming link will be made available soon.
