Waikato-BOP are looking forward to returning home but remain focussed on their job at hand in another road trip to play Mainland in their latest Synergy Hair Netball League match.
They head to Christchurch Arena in Sunday for Round 5 of the SHNL on the back of an impressive win over the defending champion Central Manawa last week.
In what is proving a tight league, Waikato-BOP play their third game in a row on the road and coach Te Aroha Keenan said it would be a challenge despite taking on a winless Mainland team.
“They’re not a team that we can take lightly,” she said. “While they don’t have the results on the board, they’ve got some strong players in each area, and we need to prepare our game for that.”
Waikato-BOP have had a mixed bag of results on the scoreboard – including two wins and a narrow loss to both the Marvels and Comets – but Keenan has seen plenty of improvement each week.
“They’re challenging themselves and each week they’ve improved, and I’ve been pleased to see that,” she said.
“We’ve got a very young side – our oldest is 23 and youngest is just 17 – so I’ve loved to see the evolution of some of the players, finding their feet.”
Keenan is no stranger to working with young players having guided the New Zealand Secondary Schools team in the past and now as the Director of Sport and Netball at St Peter’s School in Cambridge.
But this is her first year as head coach at SHNL level and she was enjoying seeing her side take on the challenges both on and off court to help their growth within the game.
“This will be our third time travelling in a row and I could tell on Monday that they were exhausted and just getting their heads around it a bit. The league is a step up for many of our players and there’s a lot of new experiences like the travel – you know you’re sleeping in a different bed and playing in front of a different crowd. It’s a lot of new learnings,” Keenan said.
It is a new-look side for Waikato-BOP with just three players returning from last year and only two of those gaining regular court time last season.
But the team showed in the win over Manawa they were consistent in all areas with their shooters Kate Taylor, Ashley Maylor and Avis Waikato Bay-of-Plenty Magic’s Ivana Rowland sharing the load while defenders Reeghan de Bono, Monica Faumui, Liza Ball (the youngest player in the squad) along with Magic’s Amy Christophers forming a strong unit.
Keenan said it had been most pleasing to see how her side reacted to the defending champion Manawa’s challenge in the second quarter before going on to win the match 46-37.
“We lost the second quarter by six, so we asked them to regain some composure which they did and that in itself is a learning right there. That consistency going forward will now be just as important.”
Just two matches will be played in Round 5 of the SHNL with the Southern Blast hosting the Robinhood Comets at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin on Saturday.
The top two ranked teams, after nine rounds, will go head-to-head on 14 May at TSB Arena in Wellington in the Synergy Hair Netball League Grand Final.