Strap in, this one is a little long!
Life in sport can be rather unpredictable, but Let’s be Frank, life outside of sport right now is exactly the same! The journey to get to the Round 1 (and home from Round 2!) of Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) continued in the same vein as that of the whole of 2020, a rollercoaster!
At the end of 2020, I sat down to have a think about what I had learnt, so that I could reflect on it in a blog with you all. Unfortunately, I never got around to it, as the exit from hub life was even quicker than the entry. However, I found looking back on that list in preparation to write my first blog of 2021 incredibly interesting and have great insight into what may have led to me to where I am now.
I summed my challenges up as follows:
- Difficulties adjusting to the rolling subs and the evolution of the ‘impact player’.
- Confidence is everything!
- Never say never: the hub, the super shot, the pay cut.
Last season I had a great internal battle around the introduction of the rolling subs. The luxury of being able to ‘settle in’ to games and combinations became a thing of the past (although I will argue on behalf of all SSN Coaches here that they would obviously prefer their teams just hit the ground running), with changes happening thick and fast. Especially, at the start of the season, which I found challenged my momentum and consistency. On the flip side of the coin, the ability to enter the game at any moment and be able to not just step into the ferocious speed that SSN was now being played at, as a result (in my opinion) of the subs, but also to create impact and shift the game in your favour, depending on what you had been tasked with, was a big old battle.
I am sure that I have written blogs in the past about confidence, and so I will not labour this point. However, the longer I play this game, the greatest challenges for me, have come not from my physical capacities or preparations, but the psychological hurdles of being an elite athlete. Although incredibly single-minded and motivated last season about what I wanted to achieve both as an individual and with my Club I was constantly challenged by my own internal dialogue and doubts.
Lastly, I vividly remember when each of the ‘hot topics’ that I listed in point three came up saying the following, “We will never go into a hub… that is never going to get across the line… I will never be able to survive on that much money…”. It is fair to say that I ate my words about each of those topics, the hub… completed it, the super shot… is still here, the pay cut… survived and thrived by still managing to hit my crazy wedding saving goals!
It has been a hot minute since we’ve ‘spoken’, so I will also throw in a quick summary of my life since October 2020. After the 2020 GF we flew straight back to Perth, whilst the non-Diamonds commenced their two-week quarantines, Jhaniele and I were given special exemption to depart WA within the first 24hrs. The journey home was uneventful and smooth sailing and I arrived back in England, having not seen Sara and my extended family and friends for just under nine months, little did I know this would largely continue.
The whole time I was back in England we were in some form of lockdown, and so, whilst my time at home is usually spent being a social butterfly, travelling all over the place to catch up with friends and family. The only places that I could legally go were to the gym (thank goodness for elite sport exemption), the supermarket, and my home with Sara. A little into my period at home Sara actually said the lockdown was working to her favour as I had to stay at home and so could not fill every spare minute with an activity or trip.
Although life at home, in terms of how the virus was tearing across the country alongside the monotony of each day (during an English winter) became quite grim at times, divine intervention and sheer determination meant that I was able to experience a huge and joyous life event!
The global pandemic and everything that ensued as a result, meant that our original wedding plans were dead in the water. We were originally meant to marry in West Sussex at a family property on October 24, 2020. However, we pushed our day back a few months as with the information at the time there was no guarantee that I would return to England in time due to the delayed start to the 2020 SSN season and we were optimistic that the virus might have abated.
Given how much of our lives are spent apart, Sara and I did not want to delay starting our married lives together for too long and so when it became apparent that restrictions were only tightening across the UK and weddings were becoming smaller and smaller, we decided to push back our original big Sussex plans to 2021 and have a small ceremony in a place that was meaningful for us both. Sara and I both met in Bath, I'm fortunate to be in the Team Bath Sports Hall of Fame, we have both graduated from the University of Bath and it was the place I called home for 10years prior to moving to Perth. Bingo!
Quite close to the day it became clear that my parents and sister would not be able to make it to the wedding due to the travel, risk associated and quarantine required at either end (they live in Calgary, Canada) I was devastated. Throughout the planning and re-planning process I only had one non-negotiable amongst all the other unknowns and instability and that was for my immediate family to be there. For several days I was left feeling incredibly conflicted and upset knowing that if restrictions allowed and we were able to marry, that I would be going against what I had said was important to me all along, challenging my own values and ultimately stubbornness.
After many discussions, we decided that for us, the real main thing had always been about starting our married lives together, and so with my parents’ encouragement and the important stars aligning, we were able to marry at the Temple of Minerva in The Botanical Gardens, Royal Victoria Park in front of 13 masked loved ones (plus some special Zoom guests) on December 29, 2020, followed by a seated drink’s reception at the same place. We were then able to have a 'wedding breakfast' of a six-course tasting menu in a private dining room at a Michelin star restaurant in the city, and all before a 10pm nationwide curfew!
I feel extremely fortunate that we were able to have our day, given everything (let us not even get into the blizzard that hit the country the day before!!) before Bath moved into a stricter tier (where weddings were not allowed at all) two days later and with a complete national lockdown following a few days after that. I feel even luckier (and hopeful) that we have our huge original celebrations with family and friends to look forward to in October of this year. I am sure my father is thankful that it will bring down the cost per wear of my wedding dress too, which he very graciously paid for!
Next time more netball (maybe), but for now, Let’s Be Frank, that is enough!
Frank x
Instagram & Twitter: @StcyJyneFrancis
