Having suffered devastatingly in our opening game of the season to the Tactix, not so because of the overall outcome, but rather the tentative and lackadaisical nature in which we took to the court and produced evidence of what some would deem akin to the Pulse of yesteryear, it was paramount that we went some way to silence our critics when facing the Mystics.
Who may our critics be? Haier Appliances, Resene, Vodafone, Duxton Hotels, Hope Bros, Preston's to mention but a few of our sponsors, our fans, other teams, or media representatives, who, essentially through thier words impersonate the thoughts of not just one nation, but two! However, none of these immediately spring to the forefront of my mind. In performance sport your biggest critic is yourself (although there may be the odd few who have a relative or coach who follows closely behind)!
For myself personally, and, I am sure, many of the Pulse inner circle, last weeks game was a shock. A reality check. When you go into something fully believing that is it achievable it knocks you for six when that turns out not to be the case.
This week being a short turnaround, having played on Monday night and flown home on Tuesday we really only had three full days of training to work with. Fortunately, there was no need to go all the way back to the drawing board; some of us were using watercolours and others were doing an oil painting! We just had to all get back to speaking Wellingtonian/Central Region “kiwi”.
I do not get up before 6 AM in the morning for training, to not reap any rewards, in fact, if you told one of my good friends in particular back home that I had surfaced at any point in the morning, he would be in complete shock I think. However, I am not saying that anything should be conferred upon us; if there were some form of honorary medal, I'm sure every team would be claiming it for themselves.
This week I was proud of our team. Once I have contributed as much as I can physically and the ball has advanced forward and left the centre third I wait with baited breath, heart in mouth, mentally playing every ball and willing that it go through the ring at the other end – preferably at the hands of one of our shooters. After the first two minutes my heart returned to it's correct anatomical position and I knew that our team had brought the game to Mystics. You don't walk onto our home court and take a victory from us without earning it.
What astounded me on Saturday was the support from the fans, and how full the arena was. This being my third season in the competition for as many different teams – such is the life, potentially, of an “import” – until Saturday I was as yet to play in Wellington, and what a reception there was. I loved the pink wigs, in recognition of our sponsor Haier and would have happily donned one, if not for the potential of it falling off on court, I spotted a man with his yellow Hurricanes shirt and flags, and I got a shiver down my spine at the roar of the ANZ thunder sticks as they beat with the 'pulse' going into each quarter.
We were consistent for three quarters, then suffered heavily with the barrage of goals Mystics took in the closing quarter, which simply compounded the four goal lead they already held; they definitely capitalised on our errors. Some may write it off as inexperience or typical of the abject team. Essentially though, it is not a win, and nothing will count until we secure that which seems so elusive, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. We're on the road now for a couple of weeks so be there in spirit (television), and join us in your yellow at TSB Bank Arena on April 17.
See you there.
Ama Agbeze