Page 15 - QARANC Vol 16 No 1 2018

THE GAZETTE QARANC 13
Army Medical Services Netball Tour 2017
Doing something that you love and doing it on a Caribbean island: what could be better? As a squad member for the Army Medical Services Netball team I was lucky enough to do so during a nine day tour to Barbados.
Barbados was the place we chose to take our annual training tour and we were right to choose this amazing place, where we could combine training, team bonding and playing against local teams. This was wrapped up with the beautiful white sands, clear blue seas and sightseeing in the sun.
Both teams AMS 1 and AMS 2 took part in very beneficial training sessions as well as matches in the evening. It was an amazing opportunity playing teams from the local area surrounding beautiful Bridgetown. The first games after settling into island life we beat the team Clapham Blitz 17-13 and 22-21. However, tiredness and the heat played a big part in our ongoing performance and whilst we tried hard, we unfortunately lost the second matches with scores of 17-23 and 14-24. Two games under our hat, the team decided to take the opportunity to go and explore with a day at a beach club called The Boat Yard. The team relaxed, played volleyball, snorkelled and then went on a boat trip.
We were then relaxed and ready to get back and perform on court, though not before partaking in our daily training sessions. Firstly we would warm up before focusing on skills identified as needing work in previous games and sessions. Secondly, we would take advantage of the hotel pool and private beach in hydro sessions to increase flexibility and reduce muscle ache. Finally, after every training session the team debriefed at local
The AMS Netball team training camp in Barbados
cafes, communicating well to identify strengths and weaknesses as a team and individuals, in preparation for Inter- Corps Championships. Our teams’ third games of the tour were against the Barbados Defence team and a team called Wolverine respectively: both games were won, which was a great tour finale and made morale sky- high.
The tour was not all hard work: there was time to see the island and experience local life. Some of the team took the reggae-reggae bus into town and sampled the markets. Others enjoyed an island tour and saw the island from a Barbadian perspective.
We still found time to spend eating and relaxing by the pool and on the beautiful beaches.
Overall Barbados was a great success as a tour. The AMS Netball team trained hard and bonded even more over the love of the fantastic sport. Hopefully as the interest in Netball grows and the AMS team grows in experience and skill, we can progress even further and go on to represent the British Army as the best on more wonderful tours all over the world.
LCpl Hannah Perkin
1 Armoured Medical Regiment
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