Tamsin on Storm alert as Wasps face leaders
WASPS Director of Netball Tamsin Greenway is preparing for a return to her old Surrey Storm stomping ground this weekend where she spent the seven previous years of her netball career.
Wasps Netball face Surrey Storm at Surrey Sport Park (7pm centre-pass) on Saturday – with the fixture seeing a host of players make their first return to their old arena.
Current Wasps players including team captain Hannah Reid, Rachel Dunn, Bongiwe Msomi, Josie Huckle, Amy Flanagan, Sophia Candappa and Francesca Williams have all played for Surrey Storm.
Tamsin Greenway recruited heavily from last year’s Vitality Netball Superleague Champions, but has seen her new team experience a mixed-start to the season, winning four of six games so far.
Wasps Netball suffered defeat in their last game, with a disappointing 52-58 loss to Manchester Thunder at the Ricoh Arena – meanwhile Storm sit unbeaten and top of the table.
This will be the first time Greenway has returned to face her old team, but she says she is fully focused on finding the winning formula for Wasps Netball.
She said: “I’m at a new club, my full focus is on Wasps but you can’t ignore the history me and some of the girls have with Surrey Storm.
“It will be a bit of a weird one, I only have fond memories of my time at Storm, but the reality is as soon as the whistle goes it’s all about the game.
“I’m focused on how we are going to challenge the new-look Surrey storm, no-one else has managed to deal with them yet, they’ve had a fantastic start to the season, and at the moment are the team to beat – so that’s a great opportunity for us.
“There will no doubt be a huge crowd there on Saturday. Players, coaches and fans alike have points to prove in this game but, for me, it is game on as normal, we have a top team to face and we need to be at the top of our game to compete.”
Wasps Netball captain and goal keeper Hannah Reid will take on the tough challenge of containing Storm’s 6 ft 7 inch goal shooter Megan Craig in the match.
Reid lifted the Superleague trophy for Storm last season and knows it will be a tough challenge facing the team she once captained.
Reid said: “I think we’ve got a great chance to beat them, they are really strong but we are definitely a team that can challenge them.
“We can’t afford to make mistakes, we aren’t going to stop them scoring completely, so it will be vital that we treasure our possession.
“We honestly believe that if we play well, we can beat anyone, but we have to show that on the court and we haven’t consistently been able to do that this season.”
Wasps Netball’s next home game sees them face Celtic Dragons at the Ricoh Arena on Friday, April 7 (8pm centre pass). Tickets start from £10 for adults while under-10s go free, can be purchased from www.waspsnetball. co.uk/tickets