EXPERIENCED defender Niamh Cooper is one of four players set for her third consecutive Commonwealth Games in the green netball dress of Team NI, though last time round at Gold Coast 2018 she was still the second youngest player.

Admittedly, the Antrim Road woman was some seven and a half years senior to the baby of that group, Michelle Magee, but with a number of stalwarts leaving the stage meantime, that pair are highly influential figures in the present set-up.

First choice wing defence Cooper is Surrey Storm vice-captain while the younger of the two Magee sisters in this squad started the last 13 British SuperLeague games of the season just ended for Leeds Rhinos.

With a number of stalwarts leaving the stage since, that pair are highly influential figures in the present set-up and, like Cooper, Michelle Magee is a first choice for her franchise having started the last 13 SuperLeague games for Leeds Rhinos.

“It’s been very exciting to watch the growth of Michelle from a schoolgirl who had to revise for her A-levels while we were at the last Commonwealths to a strong defensive lynchpin in the squad going to Birmingham,” muses Niamh.

“She has developed into a real leader in the squad and is clearly thriving at Rhinos, showing that she is a force to be reckoned with across all three defensive positions.  (Her sister) Emma is my team-mate at Storm and their emergence has been such a boost for us (NI).”

A fresh-faced Cooper celebrated her 22nd birthday during the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and, although gutted when NI agonisingly missed out on qualifying for the following year’s World Cup, she is now heading to her fourth major tournament.

“I remember being so devastated when we didn’t make it to Sydney 2015, thanks to a 45-44 defeat by Scotland in Cardiff.  It felt like everything had to happen now or the world would end but you learn that you get those ups and downs in sport and it’s about how you respond.

“We bounced back from that disappointment and have now qualified for three major tournaments in a row with the chance now in October to secure a place at next summer’s World Cup in South Africa, so that’s a big goal after Birmingham.

“It’s so important that Northern Ireland are on the world stage in terms of funding, visibility for netball back home and so forth, on top of fulfilling our personal ambitions.  Resource constraints are always an issue but we always live up to our Warriors name!

“There has been significant turnover in personnel since Gold Coast and the 2019 World Cup, the pandemic has proved very disruptive and a number of us are based in England now so moulding a much-changed squad into a tight group might have appeared problematic.

“With losing some experienced campaigners who had been there for a long time, I did wonder whether we might lose some of that special ingredient, especially how having the closeness of a club team offsets us having fewer players to pick from than other nations.

“However, having a homegrown head coach in Elaine Rice who fully understands the culture back at the helm, I needn’t have worried.  Regardless of the differences in age and high-level netball experience, we all seem to have got onto the same page quite quickly.

“It’s been difficult for the home-based players who, as well as lacking international experience have got very little club netball the past two years, but I’ve been so impressed with the newcomers in terms of their talent, smarts, work ethic and desire to be better.

“They really put it up to us when we’re back at training, the differences aren’t that great and it’s reassuring that there’s no big gap, or undue deference to those of us who have been around for a while or who they’re used to watching playing SuperLeague games on Sky.

“When I was coming through, there wasn’t much awareness of SuperLeague at home but, having watched the likes of Caroline (O’Hanlon), Noleen (Lennon) and Gemma (Gibney) playing for NI it was exciting coming up against them at club level as a teenager.”

Cooper captained NI Under 21s at the 2013 World Youth Cup in Glasgow the year before her first Commonwealths there as a relative rookie, but the wheel has kept turning and now there’s a different type of pressure going to Birmingham 2022 as an established star.

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“I’ve come a long way in eight years and am looking forward to this tournament because I have the experience now and feel like I can contribute more, in terms of my own game and also what I can give to the younger girls in the squad.

“The flip side is that there’s more expectation now, more pressure to perform and deliver as an experienced player, but that’s how it should be.  As a young girl, I’d have snapped your hand off to get to four major tournaments in my career but you keep resetting goals.

“At Storm, we talk about being that hungry wolf, or having the hunger of the man climbing the hill.  I’m massively motivated and excited about this tournament and trying to write a new chapter with Northern Ireland and do the dress proud.”

Cooper played with NI women’s soccer captain Marissa Callaghan when she lined out for the Cliftonville ladies side back in the day and watching those girls in green on the big stage recently has whetted Niamh’s appetite ahead of her own tournament this month.

“I was playing up front for Cliftonville way back in my mid-teens when they weren’t anywhere near as successful, and Marissa was the left winger.  She’s a phenomenal role model now but wouldn’t have been aspiring to anything like these heights then.

“It’s fantastic that they’ve got to the Euros and no doubt that will be a real game-changer for women’s football in Northern Ireland.  Up until recently they were like us, trying to juggle their training with regular jobs so I can identify with that,” says Cooper.

Like their women’s soccer counterparts, the NI netballers are the lowest ranked team in their group and face world champions New Zealand in their opening game tomorrow (Fri) at 6pm, a daunting task but perfectly fitting way for the combative Cooper to spend part of her 30th birthday.