Beth Goodwin says qualifying for Team Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games is a huge incentive for Strathclyde Sirens players to do well this season.
While the 22-year-old says the focus is on helping Sirens finish as high up the Vitality Netball Superleague as possible, being part of the squad selected in May for the Birmingham Games is another major target for all the Scottish Thistle players.
Goodwin from Cambuslang said: “It’s really exciting and even more of an incentive to try and stay on the top of your game so that you’re getting as much game-play as possible, leading in to this summer.
“That’s what helps your game improve the most, playing on court, so it’s really exciting and that’s what a lot of the girls are looking towards, to put ourselves into the best position that we can, going into the Commonwealth Games.
“With the Sirens’ league having started, the focus is on that. We have national camps and training so at the moment we’re competing for Sirens but the Scotland squad gets selected in May.
“It’s a good target to have, it’s a huge incentive and I think that’s one of the ultimate goals that any netballer has, to play for Scotland and compete at the Commonwealth Games.
“Being part of a multi-sport event is really special – you’re part of not just the netball squad but Team Scotland as a whole, and it’s something that we all want to achieve and make it to Birmingham 2022.
“Its high motivation to make the Commonwealth Games and hopefully put out a performance to be proud of when representing Scotland.”
Having finished high up the table in recent seasons, Goodwin admits that Sirens might have become a bit of a target for other teams, so they need to be on top form at all times.
“I think some teams now see us as a bit of a scalp,” said Goodwin.
“Any game you go into in this league, you can’t take the opposition lightly at all, and I think other teams think that of us.
“We need to make sure we’re on our ‘A’ game and we’re going to grind for
60 minutes to try and get the win because we know it’s not over until the final whistle blows.
“There’s always a chance that we can take the win off of anybody.”
On Saturday Sirens suffered a narrow 48-45 defeat at Saracens Mavericks and on Monday lost 48-38 at London Pulse to see them slip down to ninth in the Superleague standings.
They now host Celtic Dragons on Friday night and Goodwin added: “We have had a tough set of fixtures in the opening games but we are really happy with our performances and just looking for consistency now.
“We have shown what we can do, and we just want to put it out there for 60 minutes.
“It’s a strong league, the fixtures are coming thick and fast and we are trying to take each game at a time and prepare as best we can.
“The standard of the league just gets better and better every year, so we want to make sure that we stay up there competing with the top teams.”
Beth added: “We have been training very hard and trying to put ourselves in the best position to do that.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
