Hello Sportsister readers, my name is Stacey Francis and I am a member of the England Netball Squad that has been selected for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. I will be blogging throughout the competition exclusively for Sportsister but until then just to whet your appetites, here is a look at how our preparation tour to Jamaica went.

I always enjoy going away on tour with the national squad and I was sure that this one to Kingston, Jamaica would be no different. However, as I had never been to Jamaica before and this was our first ‘official’ outing as the Commonwealth Games Squad 2010 this made the tour a little more special for me.

There was also the potential threat of making my senior international debut for England as we were playing a two game test series against Jamaica. Although I had been in the squad now for well over a year opportunities to represent England come about once or twice a year. This was also only my second time to be selected into a ‘match’ squad; however, my first cap was proving rather elusive and I had a running joke with my team-mates as I was the only uncapped member of the squad.

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More blogs from Stacey - most recent at the top:

Stacey Francis blogs from the Commonwealth Games: Post one ^[1]

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As per the norm for our group we met at a Gatwick airport hotel the evening before our flight and my first roomy of the tour was Jade Clarke. Jadey decided to rock up to the hotel well past midnight though and wake me up in the process. Although she was sneaking around in the dark and quite obviously making a real effort to be quiet I am a light sleeper - little did she know I would be getting my own back in the morning. When my alarm went off at 6 I am sure she got quite a shock.

Last minute training

Pamela Cookey, Eboni Beckford Chambers and I had one last session to complete before the journey overseas. Needless to say the hotel did not have a gym with a sprung wood floor so we held our session in the car park. That is until the heavens opened and we had to move the remainder of the session to the hall way. The heat was incredible and although we didn’t realise it at the time, great preparation for what was to come.

The plane journey came and went without any major excitements, the standard terrible food and unfortunately a whole heap of films we had already seen. This is, however, the price you pay when we have been off and on planes all summer and an ideal netballer evening activity is sitting down which tends to lead us mainly towards the cinema. Upon arrival in Kingston we were greeted by the media and then transported to our hotel in the Jamaican Netball Association’s brand new bus. Enter my next and final room-mate for the tour, Tamsin Greenway, one of this month’s Sportsister cover girls ^[2].

Dealing with the heat

The first few days on tour usually consist of acclimatising to the destination that you are in and getting over jetlag and this time was no difference. The one stark contrast however, was the surprisingly small amount of fuss the team kicked up regarding pool sessions. Usually a large pain in the behind and team bug bear we immediately clocked onto the fact that this would be our only given opportunity to get our English, vitamin D deprived skin some sunshine!

We hit the ground running though in this tour as the matches, alongside the training sessions all amount to valuable time together as a part of our campaign leading into the CWG, 2010! Jamaica could not have been a more perfect destination in terms of preparation for the humidity that we could encounter in Delhi. When we arrived for our first session and all of the ones that followed, upon entering the building was when the sweating began. Add some pretty intense exercise into the mix and you have some extremely hot netballers. On several occasions throughout the tour I was absolutely convinced that I was melting, needless to say we all made it through the sweltering sessions making us think surely we could make it through the games!

Match time

The day of the first test arrived and the atmosphere in the stadium was electric. When the starting 7 stepped out on court I had the utmost confidence in every one of them. The first whistle went and the game was underway. During the first quarter when our assistant coach came down to our part of the bench to tell me I was going on in the next quarter at GD my face was apparently a picture! After a blur of conversation I got up to warm-up and set my mind to the task ahead! When I stepped out on the court for the second quarter I was incredibly nervous but confident in my abilities to perform the task I had been given.

When the game resumed, I did not give my nerves another thought – it was just another game of netball for me to perform in. I came off for the third quarter but returned to the game in the last quarter, this time with a much better control over my nerves. When the game was over and we had beaten Jamaica by 10 I really had time to take everything in. I was extremely happy with how I had played and the support that I had received from my team-mates, before I stepped on court, throughout the game, and the congratulations at the end. I had played in my first International match for England and went to bed with the biggest smile on my face. I was now chasing my second cap!!

Unfortunately we lost the second test, although it was a unanimous agreement that we majorly underperformed. With that in mind, we only lost by 7 and have many positives to take away and lessons to be learnt from our experience in Jamaica. The clock is running down at a rapid pace and Delhi is just around the corner. I am so excited and can’t wait to keep you all updated with how we get on in Delhi via my blog on the Sportsister website. Also follow me on twitter @StcyJyne88.

Wish us luck!!

Stacey

Stacey Francis, Sportsister
The Sports Magazine For Women

Photo credit: Duffy Wilkinson