The FIMBA GB +40 Women headed to London for their final camp and friendly game before heading off to Croatia for the Masters World Cup next month.
With a friendly scheduled against high flying Farnborough Phantoms later in the day, the first part of the camp was spent walking through the various plays and tactics to ensure everyone was on the same page before their opponents arrived. Following a dynamic warmup hosted by physio partner Spectrum, the GB Forties were ready for their final competitive game on home soil.
The game started at a frenetic pace, with the speed of the young Phantoms team being counteracted by the defensive pressure of GB, and the two teams were difficult to seperate right up to half time, with GB holding a small lead going into the break. The 3rd quarter started poorly for GB as Phantoms started to dictate the game and caught fire from behind the arc. Not phased by this blip, halfway through the quarter GB went back to their strengths and stepped up on the offensive boards to re-take the lead and go on a good scoring run themselves to take a commanding lead in to the final quarter, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they held on a late surge for 52-56 win.
Firstly, huge thanks to Coach Ryan and his Phantoms team for a great game, they have some talented players and gave us just the workout we needed. We tried a lot of things throughout in terms of style of play, different personnel and offensive/defensive sets to see how our opposition may react and where our strengths and improvements lay. A big test for the team was at the start of the 3rd – when Phantoms went on a run – but we purposely didn’t call a timeout as we wanted to see if the team could work out what was going wrong. It took a little longer than we would have liked, but they adapted and then went on a run to give us the win. I am really proud of how far this team has come and am excited to see their success at the World Cup.
Bruce Lauder – Assistant Coach
Following a quick break, the team came together to openly discuss the highlights and improvements needed from the game, both individually and as a team, before the final hour was spent going through those improvements on court to ensure they left the gym in the best shape possible for Croatia.
One final surprise was in store for the ladies before heading home, as they were the first team to be presented with their new FIMBA GB Nike kits, care of the KitQueen partnership, much to their excitement.
What an amazing last camp to start our international journey in 2024, made even more special knowing that the team were going to receive their new Nike kits at the end. The highlight for me was watching the excitement on their faces as they walked in to the locker room to see their kits hanging up and presentation boxes.
Charlie Lauder – Captain
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Thank you to our corporate partners Care Days, Casting Services, Langley Mechanical Services, Ocorian, PPE, Spectrum, Trelleborg tyres and White Trees Group for their support. If you want to partner the team, please contact media@fimba-gb.com or click here for further details.
