FNSL Blogs - Northern Thunder's Karen Greig

The is the next in our series of blogs from within the The FIAT Netball Superleague that we will be bringing you this season.  They will give you an insight into the lives and thoughts of players and coaches who you see every week but will give you a behind the scenes peak at their daily routines.

We have the thoughts of Northern Thunder's Goal Shooter, Karen Greig, on the teams success at Fast Net, the opening rounds of the FNSL and her recovery from injury.....

"Where to start…I guess I should start with the appointment of one of my best friends and former team mate, Tracey Neville. I was excited, and a little scared, when I learnt of the news that Tracey was going to be Coach at Thunder, knowing her very well personally and as a teammate I knew that she was really going to up the ante at Thunder….(alarm bells ringing hahaha) My first session with her was a 1:1 sandpit session she wanted, to get a good understanding of where I was at with my injury. I wish I could say I really enjoyed the session but by the end of it it was all a daze, my legs were like jelly, lungs burning and head fuzzy….the sign of things to come!"

"Nelly (Janelle Lawson) has been a great asset to the team, although Krista is struggling to understand that she is not from another planet….questions thrown her way, ‘Did you have that film in Australia? Reaaallyyy? You have that in Australia?’ Krista is also highly amused by the fact that Aussies call sweets lollies and cling film, glad wrap. Maybe some of the Aussie lingo will rub off on her, although she is finding the need to speak American to Nelly most of the time!  She has settled in well and I’m sure by the time the season is over she will be a true northerner and talking like an Oldhamer!"

Sooooo netball……

"After a winning start to our FNSL campaign we hit training hard again after the Yorkshire Jets game, we had as a whole team, coaches included, identified things we needed to work on to ensure we hit out next game versus Team Bath with intensity. The first week of the FNSL was a difficult one for me being dealt a blow which meant I was unable to take part in the first match due to my knee not being quiet ready, but last Tuesday I was told I was able to take part in the Bath game, albeit only for a quarter. It was the boost I needed during a pretty frustrating time (I think for Tracey too as I spent most days bashing her ears telling her I was fit!)"

"Training on Thursday we focused on our strengths and developing those and how to combat what we knew Bath would be good at. Training always throws out new challenges for players (mine being playing at GA for 30mins….its been a while!) but we ran through a number of combinations in different set ups and we were confident knowing that whoever stepped onto court could do a great job! Waiting for the game day to come around seemed to take forever, my excitement had been building and I couldn’t wait to be a part of the team on court again.  A long journey down to Bath was same as usual, you can place bets on how long it will be before Sara falls asleep, we usually get a good 20 minutes banter out of her before she blocks the aisle way on the coach. Krista’s usual questions or insightful stories come out, this time she was trying to diagnose why Nelly’s left arm was a lot colder than the right, the bus journey with Thunder is never boring! This weeks film for the bus was The Switch…..your typical rom-com , but went down well with the girls and we wouldn’t get off the bus until it had finished, well worth a watch!"

"We arrived pretty early so we had time to chill, eat or in some cases get busy in the Sky Sports studio! Donning Ingrid’s place, Danni and studio guest Krista, and on the cameras Malcs and Emma! I just hope the cameras were rolling and there is footage of this somewhere, outtakes on a Thursday program would be hilarious….Krista…stick with the Oldham accent, but I do think there could be a place for her advertising Pepsi Max if her attempt for Big Brother doesn’t come off!"

"Team meeting time, focus on what we were going to do, be diligent! OCD pre-match prep time, I don’t want to give away too much but I do have my strict routine that has to be the same for each game, I think some of the girls think it’s a bit strange! Match time, this was it for me, since my ACL reconstruction in mid June, the gym and the netball court have been my second home all in preparation to hit the court again.  My family and friends have been a massive support to me and helped me keep on track.  Being my second ACL reconstruction, having the confidence to get back on court isn’t easy, but having gone through it once before I knew I was in good shape, and having everyone behind me, my family, boyfriend, friends, Thunder staff, Thunder Fans and lots of general netball fans, I knew I had nothing to worry about!"

"The game started at a ferocious pace with the game going goal for goal, you could tell from the start this wasn’t going to be an easy game for us. Team Bath have a great up and coming team and the combination of Corbin and Francis at times proved too much for us. The first quarter ended 16-9 to us with some great centre court defensive work from Sara enabling us to to pull away in the final 5 mins of the quarter. No changes for us going into the 2nd quarter and we started fantastically and stretched our lead, but Bath being Bath plugged away at us and with some great work and shooting Corbin was instrumental in them clawing back the scoreline keeping us to an 8 goal lead at half time. The time had come for those words…..'Greigy warm up'."

"My adrenaline was pumping, I couldn’t wait for the 10mins half time to be up! Rachel Henry joined me on court at WA and within the first couple on mins I found my feet and settled back in to FNSL life…..it felt like I had never been away, don’t get me wrong there were sticky moments and I missed a few sitters that I would normally have sunk but I will forgive myself what with it being my first FNSL game in 10 months. Match fitness, timing and intensity will come back in no time with the more court time I get!"

"We were able to extend our lead in the 3rd, which seems to be our strongest quarter at the moment in recent games, by 16 which had put Bath under great pressure going into the final quarter. We made a few changes, as did Bath, I came off and Kathryn went back on at GS, Danni on at WA and an FNSL debut to 16 year old Eleanor Cardwell. We started shaky and a number of basic unforced errors enabled Bath to come back at us but we managed to stable ourselves and finish the game goal for goal. The game finished 55-45, a great win for us but we weren’t happy with the way we finished the game, something we need to pick up on at training this week!"

"There were some great positives to take from the game, for me getting back on court was huge and I can’t wait to hit Loughborough Lightning hard in our next game, and for Eleanor she had a good solid debut and did fantastic, something for her to build on for the future!  So what’s next? A night off training….then back into training hard on Thursday before taking on Loughborough at the netball centre on Saturday! I am also still buzzing from watching Everton take 3 points off Man City on Tuesday night..."

"Hope I haven’t bored you all too much…..I have decided maybe I do talk too much! Hmmmmm"