Flights of fancy, glitches and bonding at 30,000ft
THE season is now officially in full swing.
Yesterday, the girls made our first trip to Townsville Airport – over the next five months we will come to know it well – as we boarded our first flight of the 2018- 19 season to Adelaide.
As a Fire player, airport lounges and gates become familiar sights over the course of the summer and you have to embrace the travel if you want to succeed.
We know the drill better than most, but it’s also an opportunity that you can use to bring the group together.
There’s no doubt we were disap- pointed to lose our home opener last week – we hate letting our fans down – but we’re a new group that is still coming together and going on the road helps fast- track the process.
There’s nothing like sharing an armrest at 30,000 feet to get to know a new teammate!
To help the trip go faster, Darcee Garbin turned her hand to some culinary duties and arrived with travel muffins for the entire team.
Surprisingly, they actually tasted pretty good.
Some of the girls like to relax by listening to music, while others like to read a book or talk to their closest teammate.
I was seated next to Ally Malott and had Zitina Aokuso directly behind me.
As a group, we thought we would take in a movie, however, there must have been a glitch with my in- plane entertainment as I watched the same commercial over and over.
After the 17th time, the girls asked me why I was still doing it – it was a pretty reasonable question to be honest, but I was determined that it wouldn’t get the better of me – and we all burst out laughing when I finally waved the white flag despite the obvious glitch.
I hate losing, no matter what is at stake!
It may not seem like it, but it’s moments like these that bring you closer together – shared memories of having fun away from the court – with the knowledge that when we step over that line it will be “go time” and the laughs will make way for business.
The rest of the group spent their time asking each other what they would rather do and then proposing various hypotheticals.
Most of them bordered on the preposterous, but that’s the life of an WNBL player when travelling on the road.
Let’s hope we return sharing stories of back- to- back wins.