Great to be home!

As Suz mentioned it was a busy 8 weeks with back to back events and then we arrived home in NZ on Aug 31st and I suppose I have just been enjoying being home and basically forgot to let you know how we went! My bad!

So with out writing too much of a novel, we qualified for the main draw in all 3 of our last events since Suz wrote. We had a 25th finish in both Kristiansand and Aland and saved our best for last.

In The Hague we qualified against a young Netherlands team on centre court. Our seeding going into the main draw was 28 which meant we meet the 5th seed from Austria in our first match. I am happy to report that we dominated and won in two sets. Some great control from us, as it was quite windy, and Suz had a great serving game.

We then played a team from Czech Republic that was very.... 'different' to play. Some random volleyball and we did not adjust. But it did not to deter us as we went on to beat a team from Latvia in 2 sets and then the top Swiss team we had trained with at the start of the year. What was to be our last game was against the top team from Norway. Always going to be disappointing to lose! BUT we finished with a 9th! Our best finish and the first ever top ten finish for a New Zealand women's team!

What makes our progress and a result like this so satisfying is that we are still doing it on our own. It is frustrating that money is such and huge restriction on how quickly we are advancing ie. not having a coach, always on a budget (and anyone who thinks that money does not matter, has no idea about sport). But we are optimistic and still have our sights set on 2012, which is what matters!

 

So we are back in NZ. We still have 2 world tour events left this year in Phuket and Sanya (China) at the end of Oct/start of Nov. We have had some time out from training (well not completely) but start full time training again on the 21st in build up to these last 2 events.

I have been playing NPC netball for Auckland and it is great to be playing again with such a great bunch of girls!

As I write this I am home in Karamea on the west Coast catching up with my parents and my gorgeous 13year old golden retriever, Jess. She is a little deaf now, but the best dog ever!

Only home for a few days, but ALWAYs good to come back to the farm!

 

So that is about it!

We will update you after our first week back into full training (that is only next)!

Thanks for reading!