Tamsin's England World Champs Blog: Singapore

01 July 2011

Well we have arrived. Not sure I remember much of the flight - I shut my eyes and 12 hours later I opened them just in time for touch down. Brilliant! We had a great reception waiting for us at the other side...a screaming group of school kids equipped with 'I love England banners' and a weird netball mascot. For just a moment I could have been a pop star, if it wasn't for the terrible voice, training kit and bed hair, but i went with it. I must admit it was pretty cool. Check out the pictures!

We had a coach waiting for us, who drove us through Singapore to the hotel. It was great to see some of the sights as this was my first proper outing over here. The city is amazing, with some fantastic views. We are staying in the tallest hotel in Singapore and we have been placed on the 54th floor. The view from there is incredible (take a look at the picture), not that i have ventured out on to the balcony much as it's a long way down! And speaking of long way, it's also a long way up in the lift. It gets my ears and stomach every time, like your very own personal roller coaster!

Our hotel is very impressive- 5 star and huge. My roomie as per usual on tour is Rach Dunn, which is cool. We know each other so well now and it's important to have that when you are away in competition. You need to remain chilled.

Some of the girls have suffered a little with jet lag, but luckily I've been ok. However I have suffered massively with the grub! Without going in to too much detail I cant deal with anything that resembles maggots or worms, which over here is not a good thing! I'm making do as always though, and have already sussed out all the local joints. We have a 24 hour McDonalds in our hotel so I definitely won't go hungry (just joking to any nutritionalists that may be reading!)

It is boilng here but won't stop raining! That hasn't stopped us from exploring the city though. We are right next to the Marina which is beautiful and we are built on the side of a 3 storey shopping mall which has provided me with plenty of escapism and a heavier bag! I have been sightseeing with Rach and Louisa and was given the full honour of map reader. Needless to say I discovered chocolate cake and a Zara sale. Good to know my 'Sat Nav' is still working.

I suppose I should talk a little bit about the netball! We have trained twice since arriving and like Surrey Sports Park back home, the University facilities are fantastic. There was a real buzz around there as all the teams were in and out training on the private courts. It's given us a real taste of what's to come on Monday. Very exciting.

Training has been pretty easy just getting used to the travel and getting the ball moving. I always say if you have to be fixing things this close to game time you're in trouble. Lucky for us we haven't! There was a small issue when I was crowned killer champion. There was some concern that I was being protected in some kind of 'shooter pact'. I can neither confirm or deny these rumours. The first rule of shooter club is that you don't talk about shooter club! ;)

However happy to report that after a few more team bonding performances the squad harmony has been restored once more! Bring on Monday...