00:00 My name is Victoria Taylor, I'm 18 years of age.
00:02 I went to Scarborough Secondary High School.
00:04 I reside in Black Rock, Columbus, West Tobago.
00:07 And I play netball in the position of goalkeeper.
00:09 (upbeat music)
00:12 The training is very tough, but the team and I,
00:28 bodies have adapted to the training.
00:30 So we come with a different energy.
00:33 Although each of us have different personalities,
00:36 each of us bring up positive energy towards each other.
00:39 So I think that helps us to mesh well and gel on the court.
00:42 I managed coming from Tobago to Trinidad to training.
00:46 From the month of January,
00:48 the Tobago Nuns came down on weekends only.
00:51 But for the past month,
00:52 we have been here for the whole week.
00:54 We have been managing it well.
00:58 It's a different experience.
00:59 We have to be away from home or families,
01:02 but we do what we love for the sport of netball.
01:05 So last week we had camp in Tobago for one week.
01:08 And prior to that, we had camp in Trinidad.
01:12 Where we all, well, the camp in Tobago,
01:14 different positions were stationed in rooms together.
01:17 So we were able to communicate with each other,
01:19 say what we did wrong on the court,
01:20 what we can do to improve ourselves.
01:22 Before that, everyone was mixed up together.
01:25 It didn't matter the position we played.
01:28 So I guess being around each other all the time,
01:30 we learned how to deal with each other's personalities
01:33 and stuff.
01:34 Well, here it will help us with life
01:36 because when we go into the workplace,
01:38 we have to deal with a lot of different people
01:39 and learn how to cope.
01:43 Well, at the early age of nine years old,
01:46 the village I grew up in, Black Rock,
01:48 had a lot of netball being played on the streets.
01:51 Well, out the road for me.
01:52 And all the big women used to be going out on the court
01:55 and had the interest.
01:57 And I went out and I never stopped.
01:59 And when I went into high school, I took it seriously.
02:02 Well, I live with my mother and my sister in a family house.
02:05 My father lives Plymouth, right close to where I live.
02:09 I have four brothers and one sister.
02:12 I have one of my brothers played basketball.
02:14 The next played football.
02:16 One does athletics.
02:17 He runs.
02:19 And my mother did netball and cricket.
02:22 As of now, I will have less free time.
02:24 However, when I lay down on the bed in the night,
02:26 I just scroll through the day in my head and calm my mind.
02:31 You know?
02:32 I mean, we have a free day, which is Friday.
02:34 And we just take that day to do what we love and calm ourselves.
02:38 Me, I take walks, sleep, eat.
02:42 And that's about it.
02:43 So when I first started off coming for national training,
02:45 I started off as goal shoot.
02:48 And then I was playing goal shoot and goal keep
02:50 at the same time.
02:51 And the coaches asked me which position I feel a bit stronger
02:54 in.
02:54 And I went into defense.
02:56 And I'm very proud of myself to be able to improve,
02:59 see an improvement in myself playing defense.
03:01 Because when I first started off, yes, I probably
03:03 had the strength.
03:04 But now you can see skills that I adopted.
03:07 Today is Coach Simone.
03:09 She's our attacking coach.
03:11 Coach Suzie, defense coach.
03:12 And Coach Kyla, she's our attacking coach as well.
03:16 I will speak more on Coach Suzie because she's the defense
03:18 coach.
03:19 Well, training with her has been tough.
03:23 But it is a good experience.
03:25 I learned a lot.
03:27 And I prefer defense over shooting now.
03:31 I admire Shakonda Noel and Jeresia--
03:35 I'm not sure of her last name from today, though.
03:37 They both play defense.
03:39 And I watch how aggressive they play in the games.
03:41 And they don't ever give up.
03:42 They go for each and every ball.
03:43 You see the hunger in them in games.
03:46 And I would like to reach that stage where I always at it.
03:50 And you can see the strength and the growth.
03:52 So that's why I admire them.
03:54 It did have a time where I felt like I was
03:59 losing the love for the sport.
04:01 So I had to talk to myself.
04:04 And really, it was a mental block, I guess.
04:09 Really understand and think through
04:12 if I really want to continue or stop the sport.
04:15 But when I come on the court, it's
04:17 like my happy space where I get to relieve everything
04:22 and feel at home.
04:24 So I guess that was just a--
04:28 I don't know, yeah, a moment.
04:30 So when we first started off playing games in Trinidad,
04:32 practice matches, we weren't coming out on top.
04:35 And even if we won the game, we didn't win the game looking
04:41 as a strong team.
04:42 We won it because the team probably wasn't at our level.
04:48 But now that we are playing games,
04:50 you're seeing the jelling on the court,
04:52 each player understanding where they need to go
04:54 and when they need to go there because of the person
04:57 who have the ball.
04:58 I think we have a different connection now.
05:00 And each player understand their purpose
05:02 that we have for the competition coming up.
05:04 So we are playing harder.
05:06 And yeah, I'm glad that the team and I have
05:09 been progressing along the line.
05:11 I think it's the more time we had with each other,
05:13 all the bonding and getting to know each other on the court
05:16 as well as off the court.
05:18 I would like to thank everyone for viewing
05:20 BiExpress YSS interview.
05:22 I would like to ask the public to come and support
05:25 the netball team in the Commonwealth Games
05:27 from the 8 to the 10.
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05:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:36 (upbeat music)
05:38 (upbeat music)
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