Wednesday 5 August ’09 was the first camp with the full Diamonds squad, apart from the three World Youth Cup Players, Caitlin Bassett, Madison Browne & Shae Bolton who left for the Cook Islands to win back the WYC title that was lost to New Zealand in 2005.

Individual disappointments have been put aside after the Vixens and Thunderbirds ANZ Championship Grand Final, and I have to say that the Diamonds’ respect for one another is a feature of how well Australian players respond to being a solid group.

In a good team there are no superstars.   There are great players who show they are great team leaders on court by being able to play with others as a team.   They make sacrifices and have the ability to do the things necessary to help the team win.

At the five day camp players were subjected to fitness testing, a new weights program, specialist individual court sessions, skills and strategy sessions plus squad on squad match play.

I outlined to the squad that the pressure was going to be on everyone to perform as we build towards Commonwealth Games – not just the players but the staff as well.   Players would be scrutinized on every performance and statistic, while the coaching staff would also being judged on their coaching delivery. Each coach had a microphone attached to them as the session was filmed.   The delivery of the session is then judged by experts from the AIS who will then give the feedback to the coaches on their performance. The medical staff has to be abreast of the best medical practices and recovery techniques available to the players.

The downside to this is working the miracles – five days in camp to select the team then only four days with the team before the first game, when the Diamonds have to perform as a single unit, striving for a common goal and for the players to perform ‘The Australian Way’ It’s a different approach from their ANZ Championship coaches and with only four days to connect compared to nine months with an ANZ Championship team, being switched-on is important.

Injuries always emerge and this time is no exception with defenders unavailable but they may all be back during the series. Last year we lost three shooters before the NZ and England Test Series and our younger shooters repaid their selection with great performances.

I was delighted in the way the challenges to the squad and staff were accepted and the coaches were blown-away with the performances of some players’ individual effort – they really lifted the bar

‘The strength of the team is each individual member, the strength of each member is the Team’ – Basketball coach Phil Jackson