TEAM Jets made it a perfect start last weekend with back-to-back wins on the road to kick off the new campaign.
Facing Bristol Romans B and Team Bath A, both extremely well-respected clubs, skipper Rosie Tonner and co pulled off two outstanding victories, beating Bristol Romans 50-38 and Team Bath 52-35.
Tonner has stepped up to assume the role of captain this season in the absence of Jacy Brown, and said after the superb weekend: “It was a great start to our campaign.
“Everyone came out firing and we managed to put what we have been working on in pre-season onto the court.
“I was particularly pleased with our defensive end, who were exceptional all weekend, led by Becca Forrest at goalkeeper.
“What was also pleasing was that we managed to get everyone on court, so were able to give a few of the more junior players some exposure to the Regional League 1 division.
“Although they were two good wins, we have taken a lot of learnings and know what we need to focus on over the next few weeks before our next two games in October.”
Considering the challenges presented to the Jets this season, with the loss of their captain Brown and their head coach Serena Kersten on maternity leave, it was a truly impressive performance from the Islanders.
Coach Emily Green was full of praise for her girls: “I thought we were outstanding across both games.
“Although we didn’t know specifically who both sides would have, we knew what to expect from a physicality stand point.
“This is something some of our younger girls would not have dealt with yet, how to handle being roughed up a bit on court.
“Handling that from an emotional perspective can be really challenging, especially when things aren’t going your way.
“But I thought across the squad, we handled it superbly.
“We have really ramped up our strength and conditioning training for this exact reason, so we can counter some of these more physically dominant teams.
“In both games, we walked on court as the smaller side, but that just shows how together the girls were and how well we worked our tactics to break them down.”
One member of the Jets squad who does have vast high-level experience is goal attack, Lily Jones.
Jones has been training as part of the Team Bath Super League squad for some time now, bringing a wealth of experience back with her to the Jets set-up.
Green was enormously impressed with the returning Jones, stating the level of “professionalism” she brings to her game.
“She’s a real role model in terms of the way she conducts herself both on and off the court,” Green continued.
“She’s still so young, but has now been exposed to that level and knows how to handle it.
“I think our girls can learn a lot from having someone of Lily’s calibre in the group and she was excellent in her new role of goal attack.
“She literally couldn’t miss. Considering it’s a change of position for her, you wouldn’t have thought it from her performances.
“It’s a great start for us, we will train hard over the next few weeks and look forward to being back at home next time out in front of our own fans.”
Team Jets are next in action on the weekend of 19 and 20 October, travelling to face Titans Lightning and ENC Equinox.
Team Jets Squad: Rosie Tonner (c), Leah Griffin, Lily Jones, Emily Le Gros, Lara Spary, Nicole Goddard, Madison Fitzgerald-Wilkins, Jodie Blampied, Samantha Salzone, Summer Watkins, Becca Forrest
