Singapore stint great experience
BRIDGET Thayer has been taking in a lot less water on the netball court over the past three weeks than over the previous five.
The 23yearold shooter has returned to the Dunedin winter after a stint playing in the Singapore national league and its 30degC heat.
It had been a great experience, although the change in climate had been a shock at both ends.
‘‘It was one of those ones that during a game here I’d go through maybe one drink bottle, if that,’’ she said.
‘‘But there I was like three or four bottles of water a game.
‘‘I’d almost down a 500ml bottle in the warmup, it was so hot.
‘‘Definitely a shock to the system.’’
After applying for an import spot in the league, she was picked up at late notice after initially missing out.
She joined the SRC Barracudas team, which finished fifth in the sixteam league.
The league was Singapore’s equivalent of the ANZ Premiership, and she felt the standard of play was somewhere between club and Beko League.
The style of play had been different, though, which took a bit of adapting to.
There was a lot of running due to the players all being shorter.
That was an adjustment, given that Thayer was not used to the heat and humidity but also that she preferred to hold in the circle.
Often that worked out all right, as the majority of the other imports — each team had one New Zealander — were defenders.
Teams had to be tactical when they played their imports too.
They had to play a minimum of two quarters, but could only play a maximum of three.
That meant they had to decide whether to match Thayer against the import defenders all three quarters, or give her a chance to play against a local duo and make a run.
She had preferred to start and finish games and have one of the middle quarters off.
Indeed, it usually had an impact on games.
Sitting out a quarter was something Thayer did not do so much of at home, but alongside having a break in the heat, she was able to use it to her advantage.
‘‘It definitely changed the way the team played.
‘‘The quarter off, watching what they did was cool, just figuring out ‘that’s what they do, I could do that’. It was helpful in terms of me fitting into the team.
‘‘It was weird having a quarter off, kind of cool, but weird — I would have liked the chance to play a full game.’’
The costs of the trip had been covered by Netball Singapore and the imports had been taken on various trips on offdays.
That had made for a great experience and she said she would ‘‘probably go back’’.
Despite that, she was glad to be home and had rejoined her University Albion team, which plays College A this morning.