DARCY Wilson has played state league netball before, but last week she was taken aback at the fast pace of the competition’s opening round.
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The 16-year-old Emmanuel College student played in the under 17 competition last year, but has stepped up to open grade this year for the Hampden White outfit.
“It was so fast-paced. I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Darcy said.
“But it was really enjoyable playing against the older girls in a more physical game.” Darcy said the state league would be a good indication of what she needed to prepare for ahead of the Hampden league season, which gets under way in April.
She will line up for South Warrnambool in A grade after playing under 17s last year and a handful of A grade games towards the end of the season.
“I was going to try and play under 17s and A grade this year, but decided that I would just focus on playing A grade,” she said
“The state league is a good way to prepare for the Hampden league season. I’m more of a centre, but I’m working on being able to play a better goal attack game to become a bit more versatile.
“I need to work on my shooting, agility and speed. I need to get quicker over a short distance before the start of the season.
“State league is a good indication of what we’ll be up against for the rest of the year.”
Darcy said she wasn’t tempted to join South Warrnambool teammates Leah Kermeen, Liz Byrne, Genevieve O’Connor and Sarah Jacobs in the Warrnambool City state league side.
“I wanted to be involved, so I texted Stacey (O’Sullivan) to tell her I was interested and it all came about from there,” she said.
“It’s a good preparation, sort of like a pre-season.”
Darcy said she wasn’t sure how Hampden White would fare tonight when it takes on Warrnambool City.
“We won fairly comfortably against Colac last week, but City played really well against Hampden Green and Warrnambool District played strongly as well,” she said.
“The Hampden teams generally do well, so hopefully we can just keep playing a strong game and get a few wins on the board.”
In other Western Regional State League games tonight, Warrnambool and District will play Colac and District, while Hampden Green faces Hamilton Night.
In the 17 and under competition, Warrnambool District takes on Colac District, Hampden Green meets Warrnambool City and Hampden White tackles Camperdown Night.
Games start at 8.30pm at the Arc.
