A fastidious planner, Silver Ferns' coach Ruth Aitken likes to ensure her players are equipped to handle any curly situation that might crop up during the heat of an international battle.
Whether it be a blackout in the stadium, a player being sent off or a match going in to
double overtime, Aitken ensures her players are well versed in what to do in every eventuality, but hopes such occurrences never come to pass.
The Ferns' ability to cope with unnerving situations was put to the test in yesterday's overtime win against England in Bath.
Confusion reigned when regulation time ended with the game locked up at 51-all and the match was declared a draw.
The perplexed Silver Ferns shook hands with the jubilant English players who were celebrating an honourable draw against New Zealand after the visitors had at one stage led by nine goals.
But the terms of agreement signed by the two countries before the fixture dictated that the match must be played to a result as per the International Netball Federation rules.
Aitken said she had to quickly move to reassure her players there would be overtime, and get them ready for battle once more.
"In the heat of the moment I gather the umpire liaison said 'it's a draw' and obviously the administrators and the television here thought the same, so there was a lot of miscommunication going around," said Aitken.
"Our girls did the polite thing, someone's waiting to shake their hand so everyone shook hands, but as they came off they were all saying 'aren't we supposed to go in to overtime'?"
"I just told them, 'Yes it is - get ready and they'll sort it out'."
Although the muddled English commentators claimed Aitken and her English counterpart Sue Hawkins had together decided to play two periods of overtime, they were in fact bound by the IFNA rules to do so.
In the end it was up to the high performance managers from each country to clear up the confusion and get the proceedings back under way.
"Our girls are used to it and they were very relieved to get a second chance to put things right," said Aitken.
OVERTIME RULES
* If the scores are level at the end of regulation time, extra time will be played to determine a winner.
* Extra time consists of two seven-minute halves, and teams swap ends at half-time without an interval.
* If the score is still level at the end of extra time, play will continue until one team has a two-goal advantage.
Netball: Calm in overtime chaos
A fastidious planner, Silver Ferns' coach Ruth Aitken likes to ensure her players are equipped to handle any curly situation that might crop up during the heat of an international battle.
Whether it be a blackout in the stadium, a player being sent off or a match going in to
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