Sheffield Hatters blog: Sacrifice in training is definitely worth it - Ana Santana Gonzales

The best thing about practice is... Our coach is constantly pushing us to get better and improve. I am always learning new things from experienced and talented players. And as a team, we consistently work hard and help each other get better, because we know that this will benefit the team.

Coach has stressed to us the most important thing this week is… our defence. The league is really tough this year. There are two new teams in the WBBL and each season new talented players join the league. 

We have been working very hard on... Our communication on defence, D-trans, boxing out, stopping middle penetrations and defence on screens. Coach always emphasis that we need to step up our defence and maintain a high level of intensity. She constantly insists that if we don’t play good defence, we won’t win the game.

Regarding our offence... Coach says that the ball is something precious and that we need to look after it. Our aim is to reduce the number of turnovers from previous games.

What I have learned about being an athlete is... That it requires a lot of commitment, hard work and sacrifice. Sometimes it’s hard to balance training, with my studies and social life. It can also get a bit frustrating when most of the times you can’t make plans with your friends or go out with them because you have training or games. But the sacrifice is definitely worth it. Just by being an athlete I’ve met amazing people, I’ve visited lots of different places, played in incredible arenas and made lots of memories with my team mates.

Sheffield is such a great place to live because... It’s a beautiful city, everything is close so you can get anywhere walking, there’s lots of parks, amazing restaurants and cafes, it’s full of students and it’s very active. You never know what you are going to find when you walk through the city centre. It reminds me of home!

Our team is great because... We are more than a team - we are like a small family. Whenever we are all together we are constantly laughing and having fun and we always help, support and look after each other.