In the heart of the picturesque village of Black Rock, Tobago, resides an exceptional 18-year-old netball prodigy named Victoria Taylor. With a passion for the sport that started at the tender age of nine, Victoria has grown into an inspiring netball player, making waves both on and off the court. In an exclusive interview with Express YSS, Victoria shared her journey, challenges and aspirations in the world of netball.
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00:00 My name is Victoria Taylor, I'm 18 years of age.
00:02 I went to Scarborough Secondary High School.
00:04 I reside in Black Rock, Columbus, West Tobago.
00:07 And I play netball in the position of goalkeeper.
00:09 (upbeat music)
00:12 The training is very tough, but the team and I,
00:28 bodies have adapted to the training.
00:30 So we come with a different energy.
00:33 Although each of us have different personalities,
00:36 each of us bring up positive energy towards each other.
00:39 So I think that helps us to mesh well and gel on the court.
00:42 I managed coming from Tobago to Trinidad to training.
00:46 From the month of January,
00:48 the Tobago Nuns came down on weekends only.
00:51 But for the past month,
00:52 we have been here for the whole week.
00:54 We have been managing it well.
00:58 It's a different experience.
00:59 We have to be away from home or families,
01:02 but we do what we love for the sport of netball.
01:05 So last week we had camp in Tobago for one week.
01:08 And prior to that, we had camp in Trinidad.
01:12 Where we all, well, the camp in Tobago,
01:14 different positions were stationed in rooms together.
01:17 So we were able to communicate with each other,
01:19 say what we did wrong on the court,
01:20 what we can do to improve ourselves.
01:22 Before that, everyone was mixed up together.
01:25 It didn't matter the position we played.
01:28 So I guess being around each other all the time,
01:30 we learned how to deal with each other's personalities
01:33 and stuff.
01:34 Well, here it will help us with life
01:36 because when we go into the workplace,
01:38 we have to deal with a lot of different people
01:39 and learn how to cope.
01:43 Well, at the early age of nine years old,
01:46 the village I grew up in, Black Rock,
01:48 had a lot of netball being played on the streets.
01:51 Well, out the road for me.
01:52 And all the big women used to be going out on the court
01:55 and had the interest.
01:57 And I went out and I never stopped.
01:59 And when I went into high school, I took it seriously.
02:02 Well, I live with my mother and my sister in a family house.
02:05 My father lives Plymouth, right close to where I live.
02:09 I have four brothers and one sister.
02:12 I have one of my brothers played basketball.
02:14 The next played football.
02:16 One does athletics.
02:17 He runs.
02:19 And my mother did netball and cricket.
02:22 As of now, I will have less free time.
02:24 However, when I lay down on the bed in the night,
02:26 I just scroll through the day in my head and calm my mind.
02:31 You know?
02:32 I mean, we have a free day, which is Friday.
02:34 And we just take that day to do what we love and calm ourselves.
02:38 Me, I take walks, sleep, eat.
02:42 And that's about it.
02:43 So when I first started off coming for national training,
02:45 I started off as goal shoot.
02:48 And then I was playing goal shoot and goal keep
02:50 at the same time.
02:51 And the coaches asked me which position I feel a bit stronger
02:54 in.
02:54 And I went into defense.
02:56 And I'm very proud of myself to be able to improve,
02:59 see an improvement in myself playing defense.
03:01 Because when I first started off, yes, I probably
03:03 had the strength.
03:04 But now you can see skills that I adopted.
03:07 Today is Coach Simone.
03:09 She's our attacking coach.
03:11 Coach Suzie, defense coach.
03:12 And Coach Kyla, she's our attacking coach as well.
03:16 I will speak more on Coach Suzie because she's the defense
03:18 coach.
03:19 Well, training with her has been tough.
03:23 But it is a good experience.
03:25 I learned a lot.
03:27 And I prefer defense over shooting now.
03:31 I admire Shakonda Noel and Jeresia--
03:35 I'm not sure of her last name from today, though.
03:37 They both play defense.
03:39 And I watch how aggressive they play in the games.
03:41 And they don't ever give up.
03:42 They go for each and every ball.
03:43 You see the hunger in them in games.
03:46 And I would like to reach that stage where I always at it.
03:50 And you can see the strength and the growth.
03:52 So that's why I admire them.
03:54 It did have a time where I felt like I was
03:59 losing the love for the sport.
04:01 So I had to talk to myself.
04:04 And really, it was a mental block, I guess.
04:09 Really understand and think through
04:12 if I really want to continue or stop the sport.
04:15 But when I come on the court, it's
04:17 like my happy space where I get to relieve everything
04:22 and feel at home.
04:24 So I guess that was just a--
04:28 I don't know, yeah, a moment.
04:30 So when we first started off playing games in Trinidad,
04:32 practice matches, we weren't coming out on top.
04:35 And even if we won the game, we didn't win the game looking
04:41 as a strong team.
04:42 We won it because the team probably wasn't at our level.
04:48 But now that we are playing games,
04:50 you're seeing the jelling on the court,
04:52 each player understanding where they need to go
04:54 and when they need to go there because of the person
04:57 who have the ball.
04:58 I think we have a different connection now.
05:00 And each player understand their purpose
05:02 that we have for the competition coming up.
05:04 So we are playing harder.
05:06 And yeah, I'm glad that the team and I have
05:09 been progressing along the line.
05:11 I think it's the more time we had with each other,
05:13 all the bonding and getting to know each other on the court
05:16 as well as off the court.
05:18 I would like to thank everyone for viewing
05:20 BiExpress YSS interview.
05:22 I would like to ask the public to come and support
05:25 the netball team in the Commonwealth Games
05:27 from the 8 to the 10.
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05:36 (upbeat music)
05:38 (upbeat music)