Amelia Walmsley: Northern Stars Shooter previews the clash against the Northern Mystics

The Northern Stars are looking to turn things around after a narrow loss to the Tactix last week. 

They’re set for the Northern Derby, facing off against the Mystics in a game that could have playoff implications moving into the second half of the ANZ Premiership. 

Shooter Amelia Walmsley joined D’Arcy to preview the clash. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Norton Stars, looking to a bounce back after the last
weekend's narrow loss to the Tactics in Ottutahi christ Church
City Center face off the Northern Darby against the Mystics
in a game that could have playoff implications as it
is so tight. We're now moving into the second half
of the A and Z Premiership. Amelia Warmsley is a

(00:34):
shooter for the Stars, actually joins us now. It's Maria, Amelia.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Hi.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Great to have you on big old game this evening
at seven o'clock at Trust's Arena. You kind of live
for these games. I'm not like going to try and
underwhelm the other matches, but crosstown clashes must be huge
for the athletes.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Absolutely. I think there's always a little bit of extra
fire in the belly when you're playing, you know an Auckland,
the Auckland match. So yeah, super excited for the match
this evening.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
How do you control that? Fine, because you can't go
over the top because it might all turn pair shape.
It's got to be managed embers or what.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, exactly. I think any game. You know, with this
league being only ten games at the moment, every game
is so important, so this one is no more or
less important than every other one. But I guess you're
with that Auckland derby happening. I think you know you
have to regulate your emotions for anything, so just kind
of natural, and I guess we've been trained to do

(01:33):
that along the way. So yeah, extra fire in the belly.
But I think it's no different to any other game.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Good, right, so you just cheat it like every game
up ahead of you. But of course the game that
you need to win. A bit of a wobble last week?
How do you feel about that?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
I guesse the wobble in the sense that we lost. However,
I think there are a lot of really good things
to take out of that game, final tweaks. We still
think that in areas we did improve. So yeah, maybe
a little wobble in the result, but I think we
are heading in the right direction.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, and yourself as well. You'd be recently happy with
what you're putting up as well. I think did you
only miss one last weekend up against the Tectives?

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, happy with the shooting volume I think
it's been really fun playing alongside Martina and Crystal Winji
comes on as well, but being able to have games
where you know, there's a little bit more of a
dominant shooter shooting those goals, but also being able to
share that load and other games as well. When we
played The Mystics last time, Tina and I switched positions

(02:38):
a bit and we did share the load as well,
which is fun too.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
How do you determine that. Is it just the way
it flows and the way it rolls, or is it
slightly more organized than that, not so chaotic.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, I think it's something we train. Having the ability
to switch between those positions, I think is definitely a
strength of our team. And you know, in those moments,
it's just game by game scenarios, what's happening in the moment,
the decision that they'b made, and those moments to what
she thinks is best for the team. Yeah, So I
guess it's not something that's necessarily planned, but we do

(03:13):
train for it, so it's not as big of a
shift because we are used to it.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
You can't look too much back in the past. It's
all about the future. So you talk about Bubby coach Timapara,
I still love the way she uses that name so
long ago. Well, what's been her key drive so far
this week and lead up to this match?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I think for us after last week, it's just
really knuckling down on those basics and mitigating like the
little errors that we're making individually, and so in trainings
we've gone over some clarity pieces, but for us, it's
just about the final execution of stuff and that's been
a focus that she's driven throughout the week this week.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Explain clarity to me and how that operates. Obviously a
buzzword that's been floating around the gym for you. What
are you talking about specifically?

Speaker 3 (04:04):
When I think about clarity, it's going through structure, getting
clarity on our individual roles in our positions and what
that looks like through you know, a through court attack structure,
a center past attack structure. It's kind of getting into
the specifics of what what that looks like for our
individual roles on the court.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
And you spend all the time one on one coaching wise,
I expect you'd know pretty well. I mean, you're a
pretty handy player. Let's face it, you've got an Eyeer Honors.
You'd know what you get up to. But you do
this in cahoots with Bubby.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, we do a lot of Yeah, I guess
we get individual feedback and that stuff too, so that
really helps. But yeah, and the clarity pieces too. It's
about what we're doing individually, but how that works together
as a team. So yeah, we get lots of one
on one feedback from her, and yeah, she definitely gives
us all really individualized attention, which is awesome.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
That's what you need. And I'm really improud. I loved
that that I'm talking to you because you're actually loyal
to the game as I see now coming all over
in Australia. Did that not like come across for you
because everyone else is bailed right?

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, well, I guess I think that is what those
players feel is best for them at this moment. And
I love New Zealand obviously from New Zealand, and really
am privileged obviously alongside a lot of other players to
play within this league. And I think it's important to
retain players here as well to ensure that you know,
the league can continue at the level that at the moment,

(05:37):
And yeah, I knew that leaving the Polls. It was
only going to be if I were to leave the Pulse,
it was to only come and play for Home and
having Bubby here as well, the team that we have
as well, just yeah, definitely encouraged me to stay as well. Honestly,
like for this season, it wasn't something that really I
considered going overseas. I think the age and stage of

(06:00):
where I'm at in my career at the moment, I
think it's only right for me to stay in New
Zealand at this moment. But yeah, just really happy to
be able to continue to contribute towards this league in
our country.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Loyalty, You're a queen. We love it. And by the way,
people out there, we've been talking about Tima part George,
that's Bubby. You should really give her a full name.
Bit reckless of meat and not too and you are
Amelia Warmsey. I'll use your full name. Thanks so much
for your time and you go well, go hard and
try and turn around that two gold defeat from last week.
Make it count because she's at tight table.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
It sure as Thank you so much for more

Speaker 1 (06:38):
From the Your Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave listen live
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