Netball: Ferns know quality performance counts

By JULIE ASH

Quality is the key word for the Silver Ferns as they begin their preparations for the Commonwealth Games with a series against Barbados.

With less than a month before the Games in Manchester, the Silver Ferns assembled in Invercargill on Wednesday to prepare for three tests in five days.

They face Barbados in Invercargill tomorrow night, in Wellington on Monday night and at the North Shore Events Centre on Wednesday night.

"It is going to be hard, bearing in mind that we have just got together," Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken said yesterday.

"But I want to see us take that step up from the National Bank Cup level and start to see some of those links developing."

It is the first time Barbados have played a test series in NZ, although they visited here in 1999 for the world championships in Christchurch.

Ranked 10th in the world, they are not expected to rattle the Silver Ferns.

In the seven times the two countries have met since 1970, the closest Barbados have come to the Silver Ferns was a loss by 17 goals at the 1974 world championships in Trinidad.

While Barbados have never beaten the Silver Ferns, neither had Jamaica until this year when they clinched a win against the New Zealanders in Jamaica in the second test. New Zealand won the last test and the series 2-1.

The Jamaican tour was Aitken's first as Silver Ferns coach. It showed there were plenty of areas to work on, even though the umpiring left a little to be desired.

"The change from that second test performance to the third test was that we decided we were going to get on, do the best we could and not worry about the things we couldn't control, and I thought that was very important," Aitken said.

"Even when things are very tight the players have to have that confidence and belief in each other to let that ball go as well. I thought that in the second test in Jamaica we got quite hesitant and tentative and as soon as you do that you're in trouble."

Although Barbados may not rate as heavyweights in world netball, they do have experience. Nine of their players competed in the last world championships.

"They will have developed a lot since then," Aitken said. "I think that they'll have some really good skills and it is just that different style which is quite entertaining."

Caribbean teams are renowned for their tall, lanky players and aerial passes - a style totally different to that of New Zealand and Australia.

"One of their girls is 1.93m, which is taller than Daneka Wipiiti [the tallest Silver Fern at 1.92m], so it will be interesting which end they play her," Aitken said.

"The mid court are fast, athletic and quite aerial and they do play quite a tight man-to-man game. But there is still that unknown quality."

Aitken would like to see some consistency and the formation of strong combinations from the Silver Ferns.

"We certainly are looking to put some good performances together because this is the only chance for our local people to see the Ferns in action before Manchester and possibly for the rest of the year," she said.

"It is really important that we show them the heart that beats in the Silver Ferns and as well as a result we want to put that quality performance together.

"We are looking at it really as the foundation point for our buildup to the Commonwealth Games, but we are wanting to put structures in place both on and off the court that work towards our success further down the track."

Aitken is well aware that quality is as important as a big win. "We have not got a very sympathetic public. As the All Blacks showed, even when you get the points on the board it is still not good enough."