Grant-Yendall so satisfied with new role

WONDERFULLY' was Gill Queripel's assessment on how Sonia Grant-Yendall had fitted into her talented Nerine squad. The player herself is certainly enjoying it and is making the impact to prove it.

Having moved to Guernsey in the summer with her family - her husband being from the island - to 'have a bit more of a work-life balance', Grant-Yendall was training with the champions almost as soon as she had unpacked.

'It has been really good. Nerine have made me very welcome.

'The fact that we are playing in the National Clubs League is a huge help; actually the fact that I am playing netball at all has helped me to get into the community,' she said.

Guernsey provides a contrasting netball environment from that to which the newcomer has been used.

Grant-Yendall, 34, previously played for National Clubs League Division One side Kent County Netball Club, one of the oldest clubs in the country.

With Nerine in Division Seven of the NCL having entered the competition for the first time this season, it would be natural to assume that she has dropped a level, but she does not believe that to be the case.

'It is a very different standard from what I was used to playing at in the UK. The way Nerine play is similar to how they play in London - fast netball - but the local league and the National Clubs are vastly different.

'But it's not a come down, you do get quality games.'

Another major contrast is the attitude of the coaches in Guernsey to those in the UK.

'Every coach has got their different style of coaching - the difference in island coaching is that it is a lot more easy-going,' she said.

'In England, the coaches are stricter and can afford to be because if you don't have the commitment, they have the resources to bring someone else in.

'Over here, it is not the same situation and you have to be careful not to lose people from the sport. So the coaching style is very different, but it is very effective.'

With Grant-Yendall's help, Nerine's chances of promotion in the NCL are promising.

They have one of their three double-header weekends remaining and two victories should see them in Division Six next season.

'Nerine have done fantastically well. If we play to our normal standard in both games at the end of the month, we will deserve to go up.'

In the short time that she has been playing with Nerine, she has built an excellent rapport with Jenny Jordan, even with Grant-Yendall playing in a GS role to which she is slightly unaccustomed.

The partnership was also translated onto the representative scene as the island's newest star found herself in Tracie Hards' Guernsey squad for the opening two fixtures of the English Counties League campaign.

'That was really good. Probably not as good as National Clubs in that I didn't know all the girls on the trip, but the quality of game is close to the National Clubs and it is good going away and bonding with more people.'

But that will be the only occasion that she and Jordan will link up for the island. The latter is emigrating in January.

Of course, with Browning missing with a long-term knee injury, Nerine will have a place to fill in attack come the new year.

'We have got people who can shoot, although it is not their first position. For the rest of the season we will be okay with filling in. But then we will probably get a bigger problem. If we go up in the National Clubs League, we need to have someone who plays in attack regularly.

'I am quite a versatile player; I think I work well with Dawn and Jenny and I am confident that I can do the same with whoever we bring in,' she said.

But for now, the affable sharp-shooter is concentrating on settling herself down into local netball and Guernsey life.

'It is quite strange really because I am new to the island and a lot of people know who I am, but I don't know who they are yet.

'You get to meet a lot of people playing netball, but they look so different in civvies. I can be walking down the street, people smile at me and I smile back thinking, are you who I think you are or where do I know you from?

'But everyone is so friendly, it's fantastic,' she said.