Cooper hopes T&T can boost mental aspect for World Cup

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jul 29, CMC – Captain Joelisa Cooper says Trinidad and Tobago still need to address the mental side of their game, as they prepare for a challenging campaign in the Netball World Cup next month.

Pointing to the tour of Europe last May, Cooper said those results had shown up a lack of mental toughness and said it was still an area of concern.

“Honestly, we have not alleviated that (lack of mental strength) because we have not had access to a psychologist,” Cooper told the Trinidad Express newspaper.

“I’m praying [for the squad] because I’m very satisfied with them physically but something needs to be done with the mental aspect. I’m just praying and trying to support each player as a captain.”

T&T suffered a clean sweep to England in May, losing the opening game in Somerset, 65-42, going down in the second game 67-42 in London, before being hammered 69-36 in the final encounter in Liverpool.

In the subsequent Open Championship in Belfast, T&T lost four of their five outings. They went down 63-42 to England, lost 53-46 to Wales, were beaten 45-42 by Scotland and also edged 46-42 by South Africa.

Their only victory came against 52-40 victory over Northern Ireland.

However, Cooper said T&T had prepared well and were focused ahead of the August 7-16 tournament in Sydney, Australia.

“We have been training very hard for the past two years,” she said. “We were drilling for a week and it was a really gruelling and testing camp. However, I think we are up for the challenge.”