7. Trish Fanning
When I began to develop the idea of conducting a series of ‘Women in Sport’ interviews featuring elite athletes from a whole range of different sports, I initially hoped that before the end of next year, between 20 and 25 people might be willing to talk with me and share their stories.
I now think I might have to revise that total, as this article, which features Ireland international netballer Trish Fanning, is number seven, and I’m humbled/amazed/thrilled (take your pick) at the amount of interest and support I’ve received thus far.
I’m pretty sure most of the articles will involve people I’ve never met before, but this is one of the exceptions as Trish and I met about four-and-a-half years ago when the Republic of Ireland squad travelled to Newcastle for the 2016 Netball Europe Challenge event, which was won – somewhat bizarrely – by Grenada.
Ever since I visited Dublin in 2015 to watch my club side Grangetown play a couple of friendlies against Ireland, I have followed the fortunes of the ‘Girls in Green’ and it was lovely to have the chance to catch up one of Ireland’s most experienced international netballers.
Trish’s path to international honours was quite unusual in that although she played through school and University and then with a club side in Dublin, she had never played any representative age-group netball before becoming involved with the Ireland senior squad.
“Playing for Ireland had never really crossed my mind,” Trish readily admitted. “My elder sister played for Ireland, but maybe only for a year or two, but when I was younger, I played simply because I enjoyed playing. I suppose I didn’t really know the route, or that I could play internationally until I was 24 or 25, but most people would probably play straight out of school, or they’d be involved in the junior teams and things like that. Netball was never a huge sport here, the knowledge of what was possible wasn’t really there; and I was just happily playing my Saturday mornings…
“I had taken a career break and gone travelling to Australia and New Zealand, and when I came back I picked netball up again and just remembered why I loved it so much.
“I was playing for St Anne’s, which was a club for past pupils of the school that had closed. We had a strong side back then, Jan [Hynes, the first Ireland player to reach 100 caps], Niamh Murphy [the Ireland captain], and later Kirsty Owens and Kate Bermingham joined as well. It was such a good club; it had started out as that strong group of [St] Anne’s girls that had been involved in Ireland squads and it just grew, and always seems to attract fantastic players. There’s a good vibe about the club, there are good people there…
“After playing a while I began to realise I was actually quite good – something else I’d forgotten! – and then I got invited for trials. The head coach at the time was Lynette Wall, who was also coach at St Anne’s, she’s now the President of Netball Ireland now, and she gave me my chance. The first thing I had to do was the bleep test, and I did okay in that, then I was asked to a competition in Gibraltar.
“That was my first trip away, and from there I was hooked…”
At that time, the Ireland side hadn’t played enough international matches to qualify for a world ranking, but participation in European Championships as well as an annual tournament in Singapore saw the squad establish themselves within the top thirty nations, and rise steadily to actually making the world’s top twenty at one stage.
The achievement was all the more remarkable because the players had to essentially fund their own travel and accommodation, as well as taking leave from work or studies to be able to represent their country. Trish was a member of the squad which made that first trip back to the Far East in 2012.
“Lynette stepped away not long after I made my debut, and we got a fantastic English coach called Kaylea McQuade, who coaches over in Australia now. She was brilliant and we got invited to Singapore later that year and it was a totally new experience.
“We’d been to the Europeans and were winning year in year out, but we didn’t know what hit us when we got to Singapore. We realised we were here [Trish raised a flat hand around neck high], and we needed to be here [the hand was now above Trish’s head … to be honest, that worked better on video], and it took us a while to bridge that gap.”
I was interested to know how the demands of being an elite athlete as well as working full time impacted on Trish’s life.
“That trip to Singapore was a real wake up call, but we all bought into the idea of being more competitive the following year, and I suppose netball kind of just takes over. I would have been playing twice a week and training three times a week, if not four; so for years I just trained and played, trained and played. You don’t really have time for much else. I would have sacrificed a lot of nights out, birthdays, weddings … because you just had to put the work in. There was no point committing to something like that if you weren’t going to put the time and hard work in.
“I was always someone who needed to keep learning and work harder. I play at centre or wing attack and I always felt like there was someone ahead of me, so I had to be doing that little bit more than the person who was ahead of me so that I could earn my place in the side. That was the attitude I had. I know I can be better, so I need to keep working.”
One of the most noticeable things about the games in Singapore was the fantastic support that was given to all the competing teams, but especially (and unsurprisingly) the hosts. Was it intimidating or inspiring to perform in front of such large and vocal crowds?
“It actually drives you on. Their fans are very passionate, very loud and supportive, but because we weren’t used to playing in front of many people, any sort of crowd really gives you a boost. We were lucky as well that there are a few Irish schools in Singapore and for the bigger matches, there’d be about 30 kids in green t-shirts with their flags; and that’s enough to make a difference.”
Did that ‘difference’ bring out the best in Trish, or did she suffer from any nerves?
“I used to, particularly in those first three years in Singapore, and even playing at the Europeans; but by year four or five, I realised I needed to stop … I’m playing a game. In time, I was able to forget about the nerves and just enjoy the matches, but I used to put so much pressure on myself. If I made a mistake, dropped a pass or threw a ball way, I would beat myself up about it … for maybe as long as a week afterwards,” she continued. “I was just so hard on myself, but I was the only one who would remember that I’d dropped a ball, I’m the only person beating myself up; why should I keep doing this to myself?
“Everyone makes mistakes, but I also catch 99 per cent of my passes and make nearly all of my feeds, so I needed to flick that switch in my head. Once I did that I found that I could completely relax and now I don’t get nervous at all; I love it!”
Through the mid-2010s, Ireland continued to make progress on court (and up the world rankings); all the hard work was paying off, success bred confidence and vice versa; did that change the way netball was perceived in Ireland at that time?
“We’d been on such a high, then a few things happened, There was one Euro tournament [2016] where Niamh was pregnant, and then Jan tore her ACL [anterior cruciate ligament]; we started to plateau and we realised that we didn’t really have anybody coming in behind us. We were relying on that same group of players over and over; then if something happened, one link was enough to affect the whole squad.
“We don’t get much media coverage anyway, so that’s a challenge in itself, but with the success we had, we did get some funding from the Sports Council, which we were able to put into schools, and we did start getting lots of kids playing netball. Kids grow up into good strong girls and while we might have had that gap, we’ve now got an under-15 team, and under17 team who are brilliant, we’ve got our under21’s who are also fantastic, and a few development players. We’ve got a senior squad which includes some of those 19- and 20-year olds, so we’ve really got a lot of players coming behind us; and that’s a real success.
“So whilst we might not have had much media coverage, we created enough buzz in the schools to get girls interested. A lot of that is down to Netball Ireland as well, the association, the people who volunteer, who go into schools, coach, bring the kit, get the posts; all that makes a difference.”
Having touched on the fact that there is now a more defined pathway in place, and young athletes are able to progress into the senior set-up, how has Trish’s role within the squad developed, and has the support structure changed over those years?
“Speed was one of my biggest strengths when I first got into the squad, but over time, what I’ve learned is to just be a bit cleverer. I now know that I can only do strength training a couple of times a week – recovery is key for me. That’s how clever athletes train, they won’t go to the gym five days a week; they’ll do a couple of heavy days, then they’ll recover … it’s recovery that builds your muscles, not going hell for leather. I’ll do my running and my sprinting; I can still run and run and run, but however far I run, I’m not going to be faster than an Erin Peters or a Ciara Murphy or anybody 15 years younger than me - and I don’t need to be.
“I suppose I’m 15 years smarter,” Trish continued. “Now I know when to run, when to change pace, where to position myself, how to be cleverer about the game. You’ll have those people on your team who can run all day, keep defenders occupied, and that’s a nice mix to have as we look to the future.
“Away from the court, we’ve got a strength and conditioning coach who dedicates a lot of time to us. We’ve been doing Zoom sessions throughout lockdown; he sets us programmes every six weeks, as well as challenges and tests so we can see how we’re comparing to other players in the team, and what we need to do to get better. That’s all in place now, and that’s really good.
“In terms of psychological support, it’s not something that we’ve ever officially had, but we’ve got those older more experienced people and we’d always be there for any of the team - I say ‘old’, I don’t mean literally old! - but that group is there as a support network for the younger players.
“As I said, I used to beat myself up so much, and I’d hate to think any of the younger girls would feel like that because it’s such an achievement to get onto the squad.”
Back on court, one of Ireland’s most notable victories came during the Nations’ Cup in 2017, when the ‘Girls in ‘Green’ came from behind to claim a dramatic one-goal victory over host nation Singapore.
It was an incredible game (I watched the live feed on my phone, which was strategically hidden next to my computer at work), with a crucial turnover against the centre pass by Kate Bermingham leading to Jan Hynes netting the winning goal with just 13 seconds remaining. How did it feel to be in such a cauldron of noise?
“I actually think we were louder than the supporters that day!” Trish laughed. “The players watching on from the bench, the coach, the manager, there weren’t that many of us, but we were just screaming and pushing each other on. The noise in the place that day was unbelievable and crowd were so into it. It wasn’t like they were all for Singapore, they were just so happy seeing a match going to and fro and down to the wire
“I played the first half. We either finished level or a goal ahead, we were going goal for goal and it had been very even all the way through those two quarters. I think a risk had to be taken; we had Fiona Morrissey on the bench, who is an amazing player, so we made that change at half-time … and by the end of the third quarter we were seven goals down!
“I just remember a couple of the players saying: ‘We can do this! They’re not playing any better than us; we’ve thrown a few balls away … we just need three turnovers!’ They went back out there and just went for it. We were screaming from the bench … that’s one turnover … that’s two …just one more! When a game is that close, we’re all in it together and encouragement from the side is so important. I’d need it if I was on court, so I’m going to give it if I’m not.
“It was unbelievable. At the time it was definitely one of the best games we’d ever played. I think we’d spent five years trying to beat Singapore, we should probably have beaten them three times by then, but we just kept making mistakes at crucial times. It was so frustrating because we knew we were good enough to beat them, and then in 2017 we finally did it!
“The win gave us real confidence; we’d proved we could control any nerves, settle, re-set, thrown the ball around, and know what to do in that position. We won three games in that tournament and got our best ever finish [fourth]. We were actually a bit disappointed because we felt we could have finished higher, but towards the end of the tournament some legs and minds were gone. Maybe if we’d been fitter and stronger we could have done that little bit better…”
That said it must be so challenging to have to play a series of intense matches in such completely different surroundings and climate?
“Yes it’s hard. We would always go a couple of days before the tournament, and do our training in the hall on the morning of a match to try and get accustomed to the conditions; but it’s warm …very, very warm.
“The heat definitely takes it out of you. Even if you’re outside, just walking, you really feel the heat; it’s not always sunny, it’s just hot! So it can sap your energy a bit, especially when you’re not used to it; six days of matches and training is really intense, and there’s the travelling, jet lag, you don’t have the same food, some people find it difficult to sleep … it all catches up with you.
“We might play in a long tournament maybe once a year; you look at other countries and they might do two or three … we just don’t get enough of that exposure – but 2017 was a god year!”
It was now time to ask Trish two of the kind of questions that go a long way to proving why I was right not to pursue a career in sport’s journalism…
Having watched Trish play on many occasions, the way she sets herself for most of her passes suggested that she, like me, is left-handed. Does that bring anything different to a netball court? Trish looked impressed … well at least that’s how I interpreted her expression: “I don’t think that many people I’ve played with have realised I’m left-handed!
“It’s definitely my preferred side, but I need to be able to release quickly off both sides. I mainly play wing attack and I think my preference for the left side of the court is because the wing attack sets up on the left – but obviously I can’t stay glued to that side of the court, so while I don’t think people have noticed, I don’t think it makes any difference either.”
Fair enough; one down, one to go. Trish is a twin, and I remember one particular game when of the seven Ireland players on court, three were from multiple births; was it something that had ever been noticed or discussed?
“I just think twins must be more talented!” Trish grinned.
“I’m joking! I don’t think we ever really realised. My twin sister and I aren’t identical, Fran [Duffy] and her brother, while both extremely good-looking aren’t identical; but Gen [Slater] is the one that always stood out, because Gen is one of identical twins in the triplets and Natasha is the absolute spit of her! It’s really hard to tell them apart, but no, it was never a thing.”
Moving quickly on…
At the end of what has been such a difficult year, what is the current state of netball in Ireland and what is next for Trish and the rest of the squad?
“I think it’s helped that Sky Sports has shown the Super League, the World Cup and the recent Roses and New Zealand series; so even though it’s not Ireland people are seeing netball and know what it is. When you tell people you play netball, they’ll ask you how you got into it, rather than just saying: ‘netball … is that like basketball, or volleyball, or handball?!’ So I definitely think the knowledge is growing, the number of players is increasing, and that’s so positive for the future.
“We’re still training, and have been all year. In lockdown we’ve had our Zoom sessions as I said, as well as doing our own training. We’ve got test matches planned against Northern Ireland in March, so hopefully after Christmas if the level five lockdown here doesn’t come back in, we’ll be able to get back and do some indoor training … that’s the plan.”
In terms of chronological order, that should really have been the last question, but in order to reinforce my lack of journalistic skills, my final question took Trish back in time.
She had mentioned the ACL injury that Jan Hynes sustained in 2016. The injury happened towards the end of Ireland’s game against Grenada, something I know because I’d spent the day with the squad and was at the game; a fact that I’m hoping doesn’t gain me any sort of reputation as a jinx…
I was also aware that Trish had also suffered a similar setback during her career.
“I’ve actually done both ACLs; I did one in Singapore in 2014 and that was tough because I didn’t really know what I’d done and how long it would take to fix. That’s a reflection of how little we really knew about netball back then, but I used it as a learning opportunity. I learned so much about how to condition my legs and build up strength; it was dreadful, but I remember when I came back I was a much stronger player … a sort of silver lining. And it only took me six months to get back, which is pretty quick.
“Then I did the opposite one in 2018…
“In the February of that year, I was due to fly out to Hong Kong to play some test matches there. The night before the flight, my father died and obviously I pulled out of the tour.
“The next tournament was the Euros in Gibraltar three months later. I really wanted to play because I felt I’d earned my position in the starting seven; but first match in, I tore my ACL. It was a tough one, because playing and training had been a real distraction from my grief, and suddenly that outlet was taken away from me.
“I had my surgery and began my rehab, but the progress was slower than the first time around. Very gradually, without me realising it, I began to develop what I later found out was a generalised anxiety disorder. Things started happening to me that couldn’t be explained. I was having frequent dizzy spells, panic attacks, loss of appetite, insomnia…
“It all came to a head in January 2019 when mentally, I just crashed. My mind was in constant fight or flight mode. It got so bad I couldn’t leave my house; and couldn’t picture myself doing any of the things I used to be able to do ever again … including playing netball.
“A friend of mine recommended seeing a psychotherapist, who was able to help me understand what was happening to me. I had to take time away from work and netball and focus on healing myself and dealing with my grief. I needed a lot of therapy sessions, some medication to help get my confidence back, and a big one … lots of exercise. As my fear of leaving the house decreased, so my confidence to exercise returned again; and I began to see the strength of the link between exercise and good mental health.
“That injury in 2018 came at such a bad time because it took away my ability to train and play and run. It took away my stress reliever really.
“Anyway, after a couple of months of learning how to manage the anxiety, I went back to work, joined a new gym, finished my rehab, and rejoined the squad.
“I put everything into the gym and training; I built myself up and tried to build back my resilience as well, because your resilience can get shattered when you’ve been through so much. So do you let it beat you, or do you push on through? The easy thing to do is to let it beat you, but I made the decision to push on, and do everything I could to get back on the court.
“For me that culminated in me coming back in the Euros in 2019 in Antrim, where we played England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and that was just a dream come true.
“I’d always wanted to play against England; I just think they’re brilliant. They were without their Suncorp girls, but any England team is amazing and I really wanted to see how I would play against one of the best squads in the world. Yazz Parsons played at centre and Funmi Fadoju, one of the under-21 girls, was at wing defence – she was absolutely fantastic. It was great and I thought if this is my last tournament, I’ve enjoyed every moment.”
This was actually the perfect place to end what had been a hugely enjoyable, insightful and ultimately incredibly powerful conversation with a young woman who is as engaging away from the netball court as she is skilful and athletic on it.
International netball is not just about the top handful of countries who dominate the major competitions, there is a whole host of other nations working incredibly hard to showcase their talent, develop the sport and inspire the younger generation. Ireland is one of those nations and Trish is one of the members of the squad who has given me so much support over recent years. I am thankful for that support, and equally grateful to have the chance to share Trish’s story.
I now think I might have to revise that total, as this article, which features Ireland international netballer Trish Fanning, is number seven, and I’m humbled/amazed/thrilled (take your pick) at the amount of interest and support I’ve received thus far.
I’m pretty sure most of the articles will involve people I’ve never met before, but this is one of the exceptions as Trish and I met about four-and-a-half years ago when the Republic of Ireland squad travelled to Newcastle for the 2016 Netball Europe Challenge event, which was won – somewhat bizarrely – by Grenada.
Ever since I visited Dublin in 2015 to watch my club side Grangetown play a couple of friendlies against Ireland, I have followed the fortunes of the ‘Girls in Green’ and it was lovely to have the chance to catch up one of Ireland’s most experienced international netballers.
Trish’s path to international honours was quite unusual in that although she played through school and University and then with a club side in Dublin, she had never played any representative age-group netball before becoming involved with the Ireland senior squad.
“Playing for Ireland had never really crossed my mind,” Trish readily admitted. “My elder sister played for Ireland, but maybe only for a year or two, but when I was younger, I played simply because I enjoyed playing. I suppose I didn’t really know the route, or that I could play internationally until I was 24 or 25, but most people would probably play straight out of school, or they’d be involved in the junior teams and things like that. Netball was never a huge sport here, the knowledge of what was possible wasn’t really there; and I was just happily playing my Saturday mornings…
“I had taken a career break and gone travelling to Australia and New Zealand, and when I came back I picked netball up again and just remembered why I loved it so much.
“I was playing for St Anne’s, which was a club for past pupils of the school that had closed. We had a strong side back then, Jan [Hynes, the first Ireland player to reach 100 caps], Niamh Murphy [the Ireland captain], and later Kirsty Owens and Kate Bermingham joined as well. It was such a good club; it had started out as that strong group of [St] Anne’s girls that had been involved in Ireland squads and it just grew, and always seems to attract fantastic players. There’s a good vibe about the club, there are good people there…
“After playing a while I began to realise I was actually quite good – something else I’d forgotten! – and then I got invited for trials. The head coach at the time was Lynette Wall, who was also coach at St Anne’s, she’s now the President of Netball Ireland now, and she gave me my chance. The first thing I had to do was the bleep test, and I did okay in that, then I was asked to a competition in Gibraltar.
“That was my first trip away, and from there I was hooked…”
At that time, the Ireland side hadn’t played enough international matches to qualify for a world ranking, but participation in European Championships as well as an annual tournament in Singapore saw the squad establish themselves within the top thirty nations, and rise steadily to actually making the world’s top twenty at one stage.
The achievement was all the more remarkable because the players had to essentially fund their own travel and accommodation, as well as taking leave from work or studies to be able to represent their country. Trish was a member of the squad which made that first trip back to the Far East in 2012.
“Lynette stepped away not long after I made my debut, and we got a fantastic English coach called Kaylea McQuade, who coaches over in Australia now. She was brilliant and we got invited to Singapore later that year and it was a totally new experience.
“We’d been to the Europeans and were winning year in year out, but we didn’t know what hit us when we got to Singapore. We realised we were here [Trish raised a flat hand around neck high], and we needed to be here [the hand was now above Trish’s head … to be honest, that worked better on video], and it took us a while to bridge that gap.”
I was interested to know how the demands of being an elite athlete as well as working full time impacted on Trish’s life.
“That trip to Singapore was a real wake up call, but we all bought into the idea of being more competitive the following year, and I suppose netball kind of just takes over. I would have been playing twice a week and training three times a week, if not four; so for years I just trained and played, trained and played. You don’t really have time for much else. I would have sacrificed a lot of nights out, birthdays, weddings … because you just had to put the work in. There was no point committing to something like that if you weren’t going to put the time and hard work in.
“I was always someone who needed to keep learning and work harder. I play at centre or wing attack and I always felt like there was someone ahead of me, so I had to be doing that little bit more than the person who was ahead of me so that I could earn my place in the side. That was the attitude I had. I know I can be better, so I need to keep working.”
One of the most noticeable things about the games in Singapore was the fantastic support that was given to all the competing teams, but especially (and unsurprisingly) the hosts. Was it intimidating or inspiring to perform in front of such large and vocal crowds?
“It actually drives you on. Their fans are very passionate, very loud and supportive, but because we weren’t used to playing in front of many people, any sort of crowd really gives you a boost. We were lucky as well that there are a few Irish schools in Singapore and for the bigger matches, there’d be about 30 kids in green t-shirts with their flags; and that’s enough to make a difference.”
Did that ‘difference’ bring out the best in Trish, or did she suffer from any nerves?
“I used to, particularly in those first three years in Singapore, and even playing at the Europeans; but by year four or five, I realised I needed to stop … I’m playing a game. In time, I was able to forget about the nerves and just enjoy the matches, but I used to put so much pressure on myself. If I made a mistake, dropped a pass or threw a ball way, I would beat myself up about it … for maybe as long as a week afterwards,” she continued. “I was just so hard on myself, but I was the only one who would remember that I’d dropped a ball, I’m the only person beating myself up; why should I keep doing this to myself?
“Everyone makes mistakes, but I also catch 99 per cent of my passes and make nearly all of my feeds, so I needed to flick that switch in my head. Once I did that I found that I could completely relax and now I don’t get nervous at all; I love it!”
Through the mid-2010s, Ireland continued to make progress on court (and up the world rankings); all the hard work was paying off, success bred confidence and vice versa; did that change the way netball was perceived in Ireland at that time?
“We’d been on such a high, then a few things happened, There was one Euro tournament [2016] where Niamh was pregnant, and then Jan tore her ACL [anterior cruciate ligament]; we started to plateau and we realised that we didn’t really have anybody coming in behind us. We were relying on that same group of players over and over; then if something happened, one link was enough to affect the whole squad.
“We don’t get much media coverage anyway, so that’s a challenge in itself, but with the success we had, we did get some funding from the Sports Council, which we were able to put into schools, and we did start getting lots of kids playing netball. Kids grow up into good strong girls and while we might have had that gap, we’ve now got an under-15 team, and under17 team who are brilliant, we’ve got our under21’s who are also fantastic, and a few development players. We’ve got a senior squad which includes some of those 19- and 20-year olds, so we’ve really got a lot of players coming behind us; and that’s a real success.
“So whilst we might not have had much media coverage, we created enough buzz in the schools to get girls interested. A lot of that is down to Netball Ireland as well, the association, the people who volunteer, who go into schools, coach, bring the kit, get the posts; all that makes a difference.”
Having touched on the fact that there is now a more defined pathway in place, and young athletes are able to progress into the senior set-up, how has Trish’s role within the squad developed, and has the support structure changed over those years?
“Speed was one of my biggest strengths when I first got into the squad, but over time, what I’ve learned is to just be a bit cleverer. I now know that I can only do strength training a couple of times a week – recovery is key for me. That’s how clever athletes train, they won’t go to the gym five days a week; they’ll do a couple of heavy days, then they’ll recover … it’s recovery that builds your muscles, not going hell for leather. I’ll do my running and my sprinting; I can still run and run and run, but however far I run, I’m not going to be faster than an Erin Peters or a Ciara Murphy or anybody 15 years younger than me - and I don’t need to be.
“I suppose I’m 15 years smarter,” Trish continued. “Now I know when to run, when to change pace, where to position myself, how to be cleverer about the game. You’ll have those people on your team who can run all day, keep defenders occupied, and that’s a nice mix to have as we look to the future.
“Away from the court, we’ve got a strength and conditioning coach who dedicates a lot of time to us. We’ve been doing Zoom sessions throughout lockdown; he sets us programmes every six weeks, as well as challenges and tests so we can see how we’re comparing to other players in the team, and what we need to do to get better. That’s all in place now, and that’s really good.
“In terms of psychological support, it’s not something that we’ve ever officially had, but we’ve got those older more experienced people and we’d always be there for any of the team - I say ‘old’, I don’t mean literally old! - but that group is there as a support network for the younger players.
“As I said, I used to beat myself up so much, and I’d hate to think any of the younger girls would feel like that because it’s such an achievement to get onto the squad.”
Back on court, one of Ireland’s most notable victories came during the Nations’ Cup in 2017, when the ‘Girls in ‘Green’ came from behind to claim a dramatic one-goal victory over host nation Singapore.
It was an incredible game (I watched the live feed on my phone, which was strategically hidden next to my computer at work), with a crucial turnover against the centre pass by Kate Bermingham leading to Jan Hynes netting the winning goal with just 13 seconds remaining. How did it feel to be in such a cauldron of noise?
“I actually think we were louder than the supporters that day!” Trish laughed. “The players watching on from the bench, the coach, the manager, there weren’t that many of us, but we were just screaming and pushing each other on. The noise in the place that day was unbelievable and crowd were so into it. It wasn’t like they were all for Singapore, they were just so happy seeing a match going to and fro and down to the wire
“I played the first half. We either finished level or a goal ahead, we were going goal for goal and it had been very even all the way through those two quarters. I think a risk had to be taken; we had Fiona Morrissey on the bench, who is an amazing player, so we made that change at half-time … and by the end of the third quarter we were seven goals down!
“I just remember a couple of the players saying: ‘We can do this! They’re not playing any better than us; we’ve thrown a few balls away … we just need three turnovers!’ They went back out there and just went for it. We were screaming from the bench … that’s one turnover … that’s two …just one more! When a game is that close, we’re all in it together and encouragement from the side is so important. I’d need it if I was on court, so I’m going to give it if I’m not.
“It was unbelievable. At the time it was definitely one of the best games we’d ever played. I think we’d spent five years trying to beat Singapore, we should probably have beaten them three times by then, but we just kept making mistakes at crucial times. It was so frustrating because we knew we were good enough to beat them, and then in 2017 we finally did it!
“The win gave us real confidence; we’d proved we could control any nerves, settle, re-set, thrown the ball around, and know what to do in that position. We won three games in that tournament and got our best ever finish [fourth]. We were actually a bit disappointed because we felt we could have finished higher, but towards the end of the tournament some legs and minds were gone. Maybe if we’d been fitter and stronger we could have done that little bit better…”
That said it must be so challenging to have to play a series of intense matches in such completely different surroundings and climate?
“Yes it’s hard. We would always go a couple of days before the tournament, and do our training in the hall on the morning of a match to try and get accustomed to the conditions; but it’s warm …very, very warm.
“The heat definitely takes it out of you. Even if you’re outside, just walking, you really feel the heat; it’s not always sunny, it’s just hot! So it can sap your energy a bit, especially when you’re not used to it; six days of matches and training is really intense, and there’s the travelling, jet lag, you don’t have the same food, some people find it difficult to sleep … it all catches up with you.
“We might play in a long tournament maybe once a year; you look at other countries and they might do two or three … we just don’t get enough of that exposure – but 2017 was a god year!”
It was now time to ask Trish two of the kind of questions that go a long way to proving why I was right not to pursue a career in sport’s journalism…
Having watched Trish play on many occasions, the way she sets herself for most of her passes suggested that she, like me, is left-handed. Does that bring anything different to a netball court? Trish looked impressed … well at least that’s how I interpreted her expression: “I don’t think that many people I’ve played with have realised I’m left-handed!
“It’s definitely my preferred side, but I need to be able to release quickly off both sides. I mainly play wing attack and I think my preference for the left side of the court is because the wing attack sets up on the left – but obviously I can’t stay glued to that side of the court, so while I don’t think people have noticed, I don’t think it makes any difference either.”
Fair enough; one down, one to go. Trish is a twin, and I remember one particular game when of the seven Ireland players on court, three were from multiple births; was it something that had ever been noticed or discussed?
“I just think twins must be more talented!” Trish grinned.
“I’m joking! I don’t think we ever really realised. My twin sister and I aren’t identical, Fran [Duffy] and her brother, while both extremely good-looking aren’t identical; but Gen [Slater] is the one that always stood out, because Gen is one of identical twins in the triplets and Natasha is the absolute spit of her! It’s really hard to tell them apart, but no, it was never a thing.”
Moving quickly on…
At the end of what has been such a difficult year, what is the current state of netball in Ireland and what is next for Trish and the rest of the squad?
“I think it’s helped that Sky Sports has shown the Super League, the World Cup and the recent Roses and New Zealand series; so even though it’s not Ireland people are seeing netball and know what it is. When you tell people you play netball, they’ll ask you how you got into it, rather than just saying: ‘netball … is that like basketball, or volleyball, or handball?!’ So I definitely think the knowledge is growing, the number of players is increasing, and that’s so positive for the future.
“We’re still training, and have been all year. In lockdown we’ve had our Zoom sessions as I said, as well as doing our own training. We’ve got test matches planned against Northern Ireland in March, so hopefully after Christmas if the level five lockdown here doesn’t come back in, we’ll be able to get back and do some indoor training … that’s the plan.”
In terms of chronological order, that should really have been the last question, but in order to reinforce my lack of journalistic skills, my final question took Trish back in time.
She had mentioned the ACL injury that Jan Hynes sustained in 2016. The injury happened towards the end of Ireland’s game against Grenada, something I know because I’d spent the day with the squad and was at the game; a fact that I’m hoping doesn’t gain me any sort of reputation as a jinx…
I was also aware that Trish had also suffered a similar setback during her career.
“I’ve actually done both ACLs; I did one in Singapore in 2014 and that was tough because I didn’t really know what I’d done and how long it would take to fix. That’s a reflection of how little we really knew about netball back then, but I used it as a learning opportunity. I learned so much about how to condition my legs and build up strength; it was dreadful, but I remember when I came back I was a much stronger player … a sort of silver lining. And it only took me six months to get back, which is pretty quick.
“Then I did the opposite one in 2018…
“In the February of that year, I was due to fly out to Hong Kong to play some test matches there. The night before the flight, my father died and obviously I pulled out of the tour.
“The next tournament was the Euros in Gibraltar three months later. I really wanted to play because I felt I’d earned my position in the starting seven; but first match in, I tore my ACL. It was a tough one, because playing and training had been a real distraction from my grief, and suddenly that outlet was taken away from me.
“I had my surgery and began my rehab, but the progress was slower than the first time around. Very gradually, without me realising it, I began to develop what I later found out was a generalised anxiety disorder. Things started happening to me that couldn’t be explained. I was having frequent dizzy spells, panic attacks, loss of appetite, insomnia…
“It all came to a head in January 2019 when mentally, I just crashed. My mind was in constant fight or flight mode. It got so bad I couldn’t leave my house; and couldn’t picture myself doing any of the things I used to be able to do ever again … including playing netball.
“A friend of mine recommended seeing a psychotherapist, who was able to help me understand what was happening to me. I had to take time away from work and netball and focus on healing myself and dealing with my grief. I needed a lot of therapy sessions, some medication to help get my confidence back, and a big one … lots of exercise. As my fear of leaving the house decreased, so my confidence to exercise returned again; and I began to see the strength of the link between exercise and good mental health.
“That injury in 2018 came at such a bad time because it took away my ability to train and play and run. It took away my stress reliever really.
“Anyway, after a couple of months of learning how to manage the anxiety, I went back to work, joined a new gym, finished my rehab, and rejoined the squad.
“I put everything into the gym and training; I built myself up and tried to build back my resilience as well, because your resilience can get shattered when you’ve been through so much. So do you let it beat you, or do you push on through? The easy thing to do is to let it beat you, but I made the decision to push on, and do everything I could to get back on the court.
“For me that culminated in me coming back in the Euros in 2019 in Antrim, where we played England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and that was just a dream come true.
“I’d always wanted to play against England; I just think they’re brilliant. They were without their Suncorp girls, but any England team is amazing and I really wanted to see how I would play against one of the best squads in the world. Yazz Parsons played at centre and Funmi Fadoju, one of the under-21 girls, was at wing defence – she was absolutely fantastic. It was great and I thought if this is my last tournament, I’ve enjoyed every moment.”
This was actually the perfect place to end what had been a hugely enjoyable, insightful and ultimately incredibly powerful conversation with a young woman who is as engaging away from the netball court as she is skilful and athletic on it.
International netball is not just about the top handful of countries who dominate the major competitions, there is a whole host of other nations working incredibly hard to showcase their talent, develop the sport and inspire the younger generation. Ireland is one of those nations and Trish is one of the members of the squad who has given me so much support over recent years. I am thankful for that support, and equally grateful to have the chance to share Trish’s story.