Missing Her Mates, Pulse Midcourter Counting Down The Days

Far from her netball home base, the isolation from her mates during the COVID-19 lockdown has begun to bite for lively Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse midcourter Maddy Gordon.

With the prospect of taking over a season-defining role at wing attack for the Pulse in 2020, the rising young midcourter had her aspirations put on hold after the outbreak of the coronavirus, and is now chomping at the bit for a return to action and reuniting with her team-mates.

In her family bubble with parents David and Carolyn and 17-year-old sister Mia in her hometown of Whangarei, Gordon is the most far-flung of the Pulse contingent during isolation and would love nothing more than to be back at the team’s base in Wellington.

``I do feel very far away,’’ she said. ``The four weeks (of lockdown) actually seems to have gone pretty fast and I did want to get back to Wellington but not allowed, obviously. It hasn’t been too bad but I do miss playing netball and seeing everyone.

``I’m really missing everyone and it feels weird not being able to actually see them in person. We’ve gone from training with nine other people that are all motivated and wanting to do it and then having nothing, it’s hard.

``We’re all still really positive. It’s good to talk to everyone once a week (via zoom), to see how we’re all going, what everyone’s up to and bouncing ideas off each other of what we can do. We’re all just hoping that this doesn’t take too long and we can go back to netball as soon as possible.’’

Gordon, 20, has occupied much of her time over the past few weeks with physical pursuits and is glad her sister, who is training to be a nurse, has been on hand as a training and tennis partner. A promising swimmer in her school days, having a pool at home has also been a blessing.

``The training side has definitely been challenging, just to keep thinking of variety and different ways to do things has been quite hard as well but having Mia has meant we can do a lot of netball-specific stuff,’’ she said. ``There’s a school just down the road which has a court and we’ve been using that which is good.

``Also, we do have a couple of things at our house which I’ve been making use of. We have a bench press rack and a barbell, so I can squat that. We have a medicine ball and some plates for weights and on top of that I’ve been doing a lot of body weight stuff.

``I may have dropped off a little bit but nothing huge and feel like I’m going pretty good on the fitness front and when we return, I shouldn’t be far off.’’

With a slight easing of restrictions as the country moves in to Level 3, Gordon feels there’s now some light at the end of the tunnel.

``I’m hoping that it’s only just the two weeks and that everyone does what they’re told, so we can get out,’’ she said.

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