Australia's netball preparations continue in Manchester
The Australian Netball Team will put the finishing touches on its Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games preparations with a training camp in Manchester beginning on Tuesday.
The Australians, looking to end the country’s 12-year Commonwealth Games netball gold medal drought, arrived in England’s North West on Monday for a six-day training camp to feature training sessions and practice matches, including a charity game on Saturday.
The City of Manchester holds historical significance for Australian netball as site of the country’s last Commonwealth Games triumph in 2002, where they beat New Zealand 57-55 in extra-time to claim the gold medal.
“Manchester provides us with the opportunity to continue our preparation with little distraction, we’re all in here together, acclimatising and training, working our way up to be sure we’re at our best next week,” Australian coach Lisa Alexander said.
According to Alexander, the time spent in Manchester will be vital to her team’s Commonwealth Games campaign as it provides an opportunity to fine tune preparations both physically and mentally.
“It’s a pretty stable group, the majority of us have been together for the last twelve months with the exception of the two new inclusions, so this week will just be about tweaking a few things, we won’t be doing anything radical but we’ll keen fine tuning,” Alexander said.
“The Commonwealth Games is a physical and mental marathon so we’ve come to Manchester this week to prepare ourselves by getting settled and into routines early before we arrive into the Athletes’ Village in Glasgow.”
The Australian Netball Team will depart for Glasgow on Sunday.
