Over the next four days the squad will participate in three practice matches against each other, across morning, afternoon and evening timeslots.
Head coach Lisa Alexander said the focus would be on fine-tuning ahead of the Netball Quad Series, with one eye on the Commonwealth Games
“We don’t get a lot of time together, so we really have to use this time efficiently and effectively to get those fine nuances of teamwork down pat, and then hopefully have some good performances against South Africa, England and New Zealand in the Quad Series,” explained Alexander.
“The intensity tonight out on that court is going to be huge. There are going to be some guests there that are going to annoy us and be noisy, but that’s replicating the intensity of the tournament.
“We are certainly looking at learning from that as much as possible over this next couple of days and just fine tuning our systems and approaches that we are going to use both independently as individual athletes and as a team,” she said.
Captain Caitlin Bassett echoed Alexander’s sentiment, saying that the athletes relished the intensity and added challenge of playing against each other.
“We want to have the best of the best fighting each other for positions, no doubt the match play over the next three days is going to be hotly contested,” said Bassett.
“Everyone wants to be ticking every box and putting the best out there.”
The camp is one final opportunity for selectors to watch all combinations across the squad in action, before the Commonwealth Games team is nominated.“You are only going to get better by being challenged, that’s certainly what we will do,” said Bassett.
The Samsung Diamonds travel to England on Sunday for the Netball Quad Series.
