T&T senior women's netball team goal-attack Kalifa Mc Collin says she is excited about the resumption of the six-club ANZ Premiership which gets going in New Zealand on Friday.
Just one full round was played in mid-March before that country went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic forcing an abrupt halt to the ten-rounds competition.
In the opening round of matches, 24-year-old Mc Collin, who competed for three seasons in the Vitality Netball Super League in England and her Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel went under to Splice Construction Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, 48-54 with the T&T international scoring nine goals from 12 attempts, her final goal being the last before the tournament was stopped on March 16.
With restrictions now lifted in New Zealand, Mc Collin voted among the league's "Top Ten" players in England last year will go into action when her Ascot Park Hotel Steel faces The Good Oil Tactix at Auckland Netball Centre from 5 pm (1 am TT time on Saturday) in their 'southern derby with both sides chasing their first points of the season.
Mc Collin and her team-mates will also be eager to maintain their impressive record against The Tactix having tasted defeat in only one of ten 10 encounters and following their final training session on Thursday she said they were ready to get back on the court.
She said, "We had our last team training session today (Thursday), and I believe that we are prepared for our game on Saturday.
"The session was very intense and we demanded a lot from each other and constantly reminded ourselves of our team values, which helped us to get through the session successfully.
Having been on a break for almost 100 days, the former University of T&T standout and Netball World Cup 2018 player said she was happy to be getting back to doing what she enjoys most.
"I'm truly looking forward to getting back on the court on Saturday and putting on my dress and doing what I love most, play netball," added Mc Collin.
"The girls and I were excited to get back into training with each other as the COVID-19 lockdown phase was difficult, and we had to train by ourselves.
"But, we did a few one on one meetings with our psychologist to keep us focused on the possibilities and our processes.
"I always tried to stay positive as I knew that there was a glimmer of hope that we’d play again and I managed to motivate myself to go out and train every day to ensure the transition from lockdown to our third 'pre-season” would be smooth."
<Swift recovering from knee surgery>
While Mc Collin anticipates her return to action, her international team-mate, 28-year-old Daystar Swift, a Netball World Cup and Commonwealth Games player, will not be suiting up for her Robinhood Northern Stars in their opening matches against Te Wananga O Raukawa Pulse on Saturday, and a day later versus Tactix.
In the opening round, Swift and her Stars also suffered a narrow loss in their opener, 55-59 against Northern Mystics, 55-59, but since then the T&T defender has been recovering from knee surgery.
Swift explained, "I had a torn meniscus right knee injury since before the season and I tried doing therapy on it and played the opening round, but it got progressively worst, leaving me no choice but to have the surgery done.
She added, "Right now I am doing rehabilitation work on it and I'm nearing the end of therapy.
Swift, who also played locally for UTT had a positive spin on the coronavirus pandemic as she noted that with the break in the season, it allowed her a chance to recover and return to competition before the league concluded.
She said, "I guess COVID-19 did work in my favour a bit as all the teams were given a month post quarantine to prepare for competition, which gave me time to get some rehab in.
"My rehab has been going great and it's expected that I will be allowed to train with my team-mates from next week as the doctors have been pleased with my progress.
"I'm obviously devastated to be missing the restart of the competition after spending such a long time in quarantine, however, I'm happy to be able to still be able to play some matches this season, hopefully, pain-free.
"Because of how compact the schedule is, I think I may miss the first four to five matches, but that is dependant on clearance from the team doctor.
Looking ahead to returning to action, Swift said she expects her injury will stand up to the rigours of the compact season.
"I don't think coping with the tight schedule and its demand on my body would be an issue. I have worked hard during quarantine to ensure my recovery post-surgery is shortened and I think I am physically ready," ended Swift.
A downside to the resumption of the competition is that it will be completed behind closed doors to the public, with all fixtures played at Auckland Netball Centre.
The season culminates with a triple-header Finals Series on August 23 with match-ups to be determined by standings after Round Robin play.
Teams placed first and second on the competition ladder will meet in the Grand Final, following third/fourth and fifth/sixth classification matches.