A Week In The Life Of The SWNTP

Ireland International Weekend 14-16 October

The new Senior Women’s National Team Programme (SWNTP) has been up and running for seven months and the squad has been working diligently away in practice at The Peak Centre in Stirling, the new base for the Programme.

Performance targets have been set, technical objectives have been identified and the foundations of the correct performance environment have been established. All that remains is to measure the extent of the progress made so far.

That situation will be remedied in less than two weeks time when the squad travels across the Irish Sea to face Ireland in an international challenge match in Dublin. The weekend represents the first checkpoint on the journey set out in the 20:21 Vision for the Senior Women’s National Team Programme, which sees qualification to the CEV Small Countries Division Final 2013 as its first major target.

Over the past seven months the main technical focus of the work done has been to improve the effectiveness of the passing unit to enable greater success in first phase sideout. Over the course of the weekend the players will have this as their key objective.

In order to take full advantage of the time available the three days will involve a combination of practice, scrimmage sets and the formal international itself. The squad flies out early on Friday morning from Prestwick Airport and following breakfast and a short rest period will go straight into the first of two practice sessions that day.

The work will continue on Saturday with a morning practice session followed by a series of scrimmage sets against the Ireland squad in the afternoon. The Scotland squad will consist of fourteen players and these scrimmage sets will be used to select the final twelve players for the international the following day. So, the players will be under pressure to perform from the outset. Tough in many ways but necessary if we are going to achieve our longer term targets.

Sunday sees the formal international itself being staged at the University College Dublin with the first ball served at 1.00pm. Such occasions are always a mixture of excitement and apprehension for the players. The Irish support is always passionate and noisy and will do their bit to unnerve us. That’s all part of the mix. The key to all of this is OUR belief. The belief that we have moved on,  the belief that we can achieve what we have been working on over the past seven months. By staying completely focused on our technical objective the match outcome will take care of itself.

By the time we arrive back at Prestwick Airport later on Sunday evening we will know the outcome of our first checkpoint.

Look out for next week’s ‘A Week In The Life Of…’ article for an update on final preparations before the squad heads off to Ireland.

Scotland Senior Women’s National Team Squad for Ireland 14-16 October, 2011

Setters
Emma Clarkson (Su Ragazzi)
Elaine Krawczyk (Troon)

Middle Hitters
Caroline Clayton (Troon)
Emily Smith (Edinburgh Jets)
Cathy Smy (Aberdonia)

Outside Hitters
Linsey Bunten (Troon, Captain)
Alex Dickenson (Su Ragazzi)
Hazel Gow (Troon)
Sophie Hunter (City of Edinburgh)
Caitlin McEwan (North Lanarkshire)
Kirsty McLean (Su Ragazzi)
Jill Runciman (Edinburgh Jets)

Liberos
Fiona Kennie (City of Edinburgh)
Laura McReady (Su Ragazzi)

Craig Faill
Head Coach
Senior Women’s National Team Programme