Gibbs hopes ‘champers’ won’t taste like flat beer

Press, 26 June 1987, Page 20

Gibbs hopes ‘champers’ won’t taste like flat beer

As the world netball championships in Glasgow approach DIANNA LESLIE spoke to the New Zealand captain, Leigh Gibbs, who is looking forward to her third world

It will be champagne in Paris for Leigh Gibbs, win or lose, after the world netball championships in Glasgow this August. Gibbs, the New Zealand captain, will be taking a holiday in Europe after

the series with her husband, Steve, and a group ' of New Zealand team members. These include

Tracey Fear, Sandra Mai* ; let, Julie Townsend, Mar- » garet Forsyth, Monica ’ Leggat (team manager), . Margaret Hart (team physiotherapist) and their - respective spouses. But for all the joviality, planned Gibbs is approaching the championship with an air of responsibility. “I feel confident of my

experience after the last ‘two (world) series," said Gibbs, who has returned to the captaincy after rupturing her Achilles tendon, and having an operation. Gibbs, a highly motivated and dedicated sportswoman, is keenly tuned to her team’s wellbeing — on and off the court. “You must know the players well, and have the ability to know when they are not playing as well as - they can — whether it is physical skills or emotional problems. Of course, the emotional problems are always ' harder to detect,” Gibbs said.

When the New Zealand team assembled in Hamilton for a training weekend on June 13 and 14 Gibbs had a chance to liaise with Lois Muir, the coach, as the team worked to sharpen its already razor-sharp edge.

“I try and get the team working on and off the

court so that they have got absolute understanding of each other’s problems, because we really aim to do our best and to win,” said Gibbs. Gibbs found that she had areas of her game that needed some work, and found team discussions helpful. “I have got to speed up my hand reactions and we shared ideas about exercise. Lyn Parker (the respected former New Zealand captain) gave me tips to help gain more elevation when I am moving backwards which has been a problem since my injury,” Gibbs said. But the training weekend was also a time for the team to consolidate its mental understanding and share any problems. “I feel the whole team found it worth while. It was not a hectic fitness week-end, and we had time for discussion, which will give us a head start for when we get together in July,” said Gibbs. Gibbs does a lot of training alone and found the training week-end invaluable as a comparison of preparation and fitness. “I felt equal to the other team members in fitness. When you are training on your own you always wonder if you are doing the right exercises, and if you are doing enough of them,” she said.

As well as her club practices Gibbs’ current training schedule includes working out at the Institute of Sport and Corpo-

rate Health, practising on speed work with Annette Heffernan and Angela Pule (the other Canterbury members of the team) once a week and adding the finer edge to her considerable ball skills. She also swims for variety and therapy for her leg. New Zealand is drawn to meet Barbados first in the world championship. Barbados has not competed in the series since the 1979 event in Trinidad when it was a force to be reckoned with, although New Zealand did beat it, in unusual circumstances. “I remember it was raining heavily and the courts were slippery. We

were supposed to play at ' 4 p.m. but the game kept getting put back until we finally took the court at 8 p.m. On a nearby court Trinidad was playing against Australia and the 10,000-strong crowd was explosive. At the mention of the game being moved inside to a 3000-capacity stadium, because of the weather, there was almost a brawl and the idea had to be abandoned. It was unnerving to play in the tense atmosphere,” said Gibbs. Although the New Zealand team is well prepared and has drawn the easier pool, the "perfect" draw for Gibbs would be

to play Barbados later in the competition, to give the team time to adjust to the physical play of the Caribbean countries.

“They are more aggressive and stretch the rules

to the limit They tend to be unorthodox in the way they receive and defend a pass, and with their longer limbs and comparatively shorter bodies, they resemble spiders and' have less body control than other countries/’ said Gibbs. But Gibbs has no doubts about the promise of these sides. 1 "If the Caribbean countries were more disciplined they would be difficult to beat,” said Gibbs. Gibbs singled out the umpires as a necessary medium, to control the intimidating body work of the Caribbean countries. “New Zealand and Australia have the best umpires. At world tournaments we never get our own umpires, and rarely have an Australian one, so we often draw umpires from weaker. netball countries,” Gibbs said. “These umpires are not used to harder netball and they have trouble controlling the loose body movements and intimidating nature of Caribbean netball, which makes it difficult for us to counter effectively,” she emphasised. ' • Gibbs is confident that she will play most of the world championship games, and her injured leg, which many thought would end her New Zealand representative career, has been sound this season, and indeed, has given the fitness taskmaster incentive to train even harder.

“I think I will play the

majority of games, although I do anticipate games when I am not on the court,” she said. As a final warm-up and acclimatisation for Glasgow the New Zealand contingent will play some English county teams at Avery Hill, including a seemingly inappropriately named side, “the Roos.” In her good-humoured manner, Gibbs explained about the origin of the intriguing English netball team with an Australian name. “The Roos are past All England players who were in the first team to play in Australia and has since adopted the Kangaroo as its namesake,” she laughed. Although the 30-year-old Hillmorton High School physical education teacher is older than some of her team members, she has no problems communicating with players. “Teaching helps with the age gap, and makes relating to younger people easier,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs has also become increasingly involved with umpiring this season and the Sacred Heart mainstay who is always supporting and encouraging her fellow players has an uncharacteristic but understandable reason for this.

“I enjoy umpiring because you are there totally for yourself. I will eventually get into coaching, but it is nice to have a change and be only responsible for yourself,” she said.

Gibbs has been slowly severing her playing ties with her club side in anticipation of the world championships and she usually only plays one quarter per game. “I have been making a slow break to see how the team copes without me,” said Gibbs, who is pleased with her side’s performance this season.

Contrary to earlier reports that she will definitely retire, Gibbs is undecided about her future in New Zealand netball after Glasgow.

“I will make a decision about my retirement after the world championship,” she said.