SINGAPORE - Coming into her first West Zone C Division netball final, Trisha Toh did not know what to expect.
All she knew was she would do her best and be proud of her Nan Hua High School team no matter what.
What the 1.78m shooter certainly did not expect was that she would score all the goals in the 44-31 victory over Nanyang Girls' High School, earning Nan Hua their first West Zone title on Friday (Aug 26).
Trisha, 14, did a good job of positioning herself to receive the ball near the pole and remaining calm to convert them.
She said: "It wasn't expected but the training sessions this entire season are what made it possible. With the practice, I was able to put in the shots and not let the pressure get to me.
"We had many supporters and people who were expecting a lot from us, but just not thinking about it and focusing on myself made me able to do that."
Noting that she does not do anything special or aim to shoot a specific number of shots a day, she added that she simply listens to her coach Bok Juang Wei and adapts from there.
The match at Our Tampines Hub started out as a close affair but Nan Hua slowly pulled away to build a slender lead after the first quarter.
Their pressing never ceased and they forced Nanyang to misplace a few passes while making key interceptions to further extend their lead and later win the title.
En route to the final, Nan Hua had also beat defending champions Methodist Girls' School in the semi-final.
Nan Hua captain Sonya Wang, 14, said: "I'm very proud of my team and happy that we achieved this because our team worked very hard. There was a lot of pressure coming from everyone around us, we had to face such strong teams so I'm very honoured to win this."
She attributed "a lot of perseverance and mental strength to work hard and go through all the training sessions" as ingredients for their success and added: "Netball is a very physically demanding sport and there's a lot of things we have to persevere through like being tired and juggling school work and CCA."
Nan Hua coach Bok, 52, commended his charges and noted: "(Before the match), I told them (the result) doesn't matter. Winning is a bonus and they should just do their best.
"Both teams did well (but) my girls managed to stay more calm. They're very self-motivated and they don't take shortcuts. When I ask them to do certain things, they not only do enough, they do more than that."
For shooting practice, he raises the intensity by making the players run or do other movements before shooting.
Despite the loss, Nanyang captain Jazel Neo, 14, was proud of her team's effort. She said: "We weren't as good but after two months of hard work, we managed to win silver.
"We practised our passes every day and try to train every other day. We didn't do really well (in previous games against Nan Hua) but this time we caught up much better."
