DEDICATION and team spirit have been the two keys which have seen the Hawkesbury’s top representative netball team fire out of the gates to an unbeaten start to their season.
Hawkesbury City Netball Association’s top team in the Netball NSW Metro League competition has won all eight of its games to start the season.
The team’s new captain Aimee-Lee Bohan said even the girls in the team were a bit surprised about how well they had gone so far, but were now set on making sure they carried it on for the rest of the season.
“We know the talent we've got and what we can do on the court,” she said.
“We've had issues in consistency in the past but we've come out of the gate guns blazing and we're putting in solid efforts during the game.”
The past two seasons, the team has made the grand final of the fifth division of the competition, and has now moved up to the fourth division.
Bohan said many of their competitors had been taken unawares in the opening rounds.
“I think we've come in as an underdog because we moved up from the lower competition,” she said.
“That is fine with us, we'll let the netball do the talking.”
So far, the talk has been pretty strong. Bohan said determination to improve had been a strong part of that.
“We've had a strong focus at training, making sure we keep the intensity really high and it has carried into the games and the results are showing,” she said.
Bohan said there were a few new faces in the team this season, while she had become captain for the first time of any team.
“I am excited about it, it will be tough I know but I have to learn to step up and think before I speak,” she said.
“I've always been vocal, but now I need to make sure the players respond in the right way if I offer a critique and encouragement.”
Bohan said the defensive end of the court had been the standout in the opening part of the season, however, the entire team had been going well.
She added that a clean bill of health for many in the team was helping, after last season many girls missed matches because of injury.
Hawkesbury also has another team in the Metro League, playing in the sixth division. The two teams train with each other on Thursday nights.
