2019 TGS Netball Tour

After just a few hours of sleep the girls were up and ready to go. To ensure that they were prepared for their up coming matches, the first activity of the day was a professional coaching clinic with Vilimaina Davu. Vilimaina has represented both Fiji and New Zealand in international netball as a Goal Keeper. As a young girl, living in Fiji, she asked her dad to fix some wire around a palm tree in her yard, and this became her hoop. With no netballs to play with, Vilimaina began to practice her shooting with a coconut, working each day to improve her skills until finally she was selected to represent her country, at just 14 years of age. Early in her career, Vilimaina's coach convinced her to switch shooting for defence to make better use of her on court aggression, and before long she was a Goal Keeper. The girls were pushed physically and mentally during the training session. Vilimaina's drills fine tuned their attacking and defensive skills. In an attempt to give Gr...

International flights meant early check ins and a lot of waiting; Day 1 was all about transit. Time between flights was spent sampling food from many food courts and spotting bargains in duty free stores. Some of the girls even organised card games to pass the time. All the waiting around was worth it when we successfully navigated our way through customs, out of Auckland Airport to our coach. We had made it to New Zealand! The fresh air was welcomed, though a few were caught out by the cooler temperatures and will no doubt be wearing a few extra layers as we begin our exploration of Auckland.