For New Zealand’s netball team it was a helping of ice cream, then back to training on Monday, a pool session and autographs and selfies at the Netball World Cup Fan Fest.
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They have adopted the catchphrase “pressure is a privilege” from the tennis star to deal with the weight of expectation of a Netball World Cup on home soil.
She said there was just a lack of polish at times.
But Kopua says the most exciting aspect about the Silver Ferns’ play is the way they keep on improving.
The 2015 Netball World Cup gets underway on August 7 and 10 days of superb action in Sydney will be streamed live online.
Zambia will be competing in only their second World Cup since the inaugural competition.
“Australia can’t have her”, she said.
The Diamonds are picking apart every detail of their game in a bid to flush out the sloppy errors and inconsistencies that dogged Sunday’s upset Netball World Cup loss to New Zealand.
Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu set the tone at the beginning of the year with the selection of her team for the Oceania Series in Fiji, picking the 12 fittest players for the tour after rigorous testing during the summer conditioning camp.
“Bec Bulley’s like a new kid on the block and Erin Bell’s attitude and her ability to affect what we’re doing as a great goal shooter herself is just going to add to our armoury”.
Australia had a 68-point win over Barbados yesterday and New Zealand beat the same team by 45 on day 1 but games between the cross Tasman rivals are always close.
Nearly 200 of the world’s best netballers will take the court for 64 World Cup matches. “Morale is high in camp, we are looking forward to resting and preparing for our first game”, he said.
The Diamonds were scheduled to play a yet-to-be-determined opponent in a qualification match on Tuesday.
“There’s not a lot of people who have that opportunity and I think that’s why our girls will come out firing; they will play with passion and commitment because they only have one shot at this”.
The Silver Ferns pounced on Australia’s unsteady start, building momentum throughout the second quarter as the Diamonds struggled to get the ball into their attacking third.
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“We knew what would work and how far off we’d been from getting things to click”.
