West Coast Fever are hosting Scottish International Emily Nicholl for the next three weeks as part of a program aimed at providing opportunities for Scottish players to experience a different high performance environment.
Nicholl also plays for the Strathclyde Sirens, Scotland’s only semi-professional national female sports team, who compete in the Netball Super League. She joins the Fever straight from Scotland’s Tour of South Africa.
West Coast Fever General Manager - Performance and Pathway Sue Gaudion said the opportunity to host Nicholl came about due to the Club’s links to Scottish netball.
“Former Fever import Karen Atkinson was recently appointed as Performance Director at Netball Scotland and National Head Coach Tasmin Greenway have both played in our league. They understand our training environment and how exposing their players to our high performance program will benefit their players,” Gaudion said.
“This is a great opportunity for Emily to develop her skills and experience in a high performance environment and take her game and understanding of netball to the next level.
“Emily has a real tenacity about her game and the presence she has brought on court during our training session has been top level.
“We are very excited to have Emily in our environment and foster the links with Scottish netball to help grow the game in Scotland.”
Nicholl said the opportunity to experience life as a full-time athlete was a dream come true.
“Waking up in Australia the day after playing South Africa was a bit of a whirlwind but it was great to get involved straight away. I headed to the Netball Centre where I met all of the Fever girls who were so welcoming,” Nicholl said.
“I want to measure myself up against the best, so it is going to be a big challenge and humbling experience to see what it’s like to play against those girls.
“I am here with the purpose of finding out what we need to do as Scottish Thistles to push to that higher level, but I will also be a fan-girl at the same time.
“It’s fortunate having Dan Ryan as head coach as I know him a little from playing in the Netball Super League and Sue Gaudion also came into the Sirens environment a few years back. I am excited to completely immerse myself in their culture and get to know all the girls.”
