Sport on Saturday: What it's like to train for the big one.

Next Sunday, something big is happening.

It’s the grand final of the ANZ Championship – the premier netball league in Australia and New Zealand. Over the last few months, 10 teams from both nations have battled it out to get to this point. They’ve played over 60 matches to determine who’s at the top of the leaderboard.

It’s yet to be determined who exactly will go through to the grand final. There’s one final game left to be played on Monday night, between the Queensland Firebirds and the Kia Magic players (a team from Waikato Bay in New Zealand).

However, we do know that the Melbourne Vixens are definitely through to the grand final. They went straight through after a 52-47 win over the Firebirds earlier this month.

The Vixens have had an incredible season, although they haven’t won the title since 2009 – so they’re hungry for a victory.

While the team waits to find out who their opponents will be in the grand final, I had a chat to their star player, Madi Robinson, to find out a bit more about her and the team.

Here’s a few things you should know about Madi before we kick off:

– She plays Wing Attack and Centre.

– She won the ANZ Championship Player of the Year award, the 
International Player of the Year award AND Liz Ellis Diamond award all in one year – 2012.

– She’s been an Australian squad member since 2006 and a member of the Australian Diamonds team since 2010.

– She won Australian 21/U Player of the year in 2008, as well as Best New Talent and Rookie of the Year in 2006.

– After the grand final, she’ll be heading straight over to Glasgow to compete in the Commonwealth Games.

Here’s what Madi had to tell me about her life and her team:

Growing up, I did a lot of sport – swimming, dancing, basektball, anything really. I started netball when I was about 6 years old. For the first few years I was terrible – I would just run around flashing my bib and yelling “i’m on court, I’m on court” and my parents were like “yeah we know, do something!”

I kept at it, and eventually made my first state team for netball, as well as playing state basketball. When I was 18, I got a call to play for one of the Melbourne teams – there used to be two, before they merged into the Vixens – and that was the first time that I was like… oh my goodness, I could do this on a professional level. At that point, I was still undecided as to which way I was going to go between basketball and netball, so when I got that phone call, I was kind of like… “well. Netball’s chosen me.”

I love the fact that it brings a lot of people together. It’s a really good community and you develop so many friendships along the way. My best friend plays for Adelaide and I often play against her. When I got married, she was my bridesmaid, and a week later, I was versing her on court! So you do have the ability to make lifelong friendships along the way.

It’s really good to see that mums and daughters obviously love it, but there’s a lot of uncles and sons and fathers coming along to the game, and they’re like – “It’s quite physical! I thought this was a non-contact sport!” No, we are actually out there, we train full time, we’re elite athletes. So it’s good to see that it’s a well-respected game all round.

Netball can have a bit of a reputation for being bitchy at the grassroots level and they’re not doing us any favours! On an elite level, we’re all very professional, there’s not a lot of slegding. On the physical side you might cop it here and there, but you’ve got to take it as well as dish it out really.

At the moment it’s all about the Vixens. We’re training every day. Two times a week, we’re on court. Then we have two to three sessions in the gym – they’re individual programs, pumping iron and that sort of thing. We also have a recovery day which might involve a swim.

The last time we hosted the grand final in Melbourne, it was in 2012 and we unfortunately lost. Prior to that, Vixens won the title in 2009. So it’s been a long time coming! But 2014 has been a great year for us as a team. The fire is in our belly.

We’ll find out on Monday night who our competitor is. Whoever it is, we’ll put ourselves out there and we’ll do our best to get our hands on that championship cup.

There’s a week off after the grand final, and then we go away to the AIS for a camp. It’s a very quick turnaround – regardless of the result, it’ll be celebrate or drown your sorrows pretty quickly, and then straight back into the gym and the court.

At the end of the day, it’s all about living in the moment and making the most of every opportunity. With sport, things can change so, so quickly, you might get injured or something happens – you’ve just got to enjoy it and have fun while you do it.

If you want to watch the grand final, it will be shown on Fox Sports and SBS2 next Sunday. The time is still yet to be determined – it depends on the other team that is selected for the final on Monday night. 

And in other sport news from the week…

– Our Hockeyroos are through to the World Cup final! They had a shootout victory over the United States this week, and are now set to go up against the Netherlands, who are currently in the World number one spot.

– Cricket star Jodie Fields has resigned from international cricket. The 29-year-old has taken a step down from national duties, although she will continue to play for Queensland.

In a statement, Fields said: “I feel that this is the right time for me to retire from international cricket. I’ve been really lucky and proud to be able to represent Australia for as long as I have and to have been a part of some amazing and successful teams.”

The chairman of Cricket Australia, Wally Edwards, congratulated Fields on a successful international career: “Jodie has been a passionate and committed member of the Southern Stars for eight years, and as a dual World Cup winning captain, she sits in elite company in the history of Australian cricket.”

– Basketball pro Liz Cambage has returned to the Women’s National Basketball League to play for the Dandenong Rangers. For the past two season, she has played in China, but now has turned down big pay offers to return home. She’ll also have some more time to train with the Opals ahead of the FIBA women’s world championships in Turkey in September.

– And of course, the biggest news of the week – the 2014 FIFA World Cup has kicked off to supreme excitement all over the world. Hopefully this time round, there will be fewer vuvzelas to be seen in the crowd.

Will you be watching the ANZ Championship next week? Have you seen anything else in the news that you’d like to talk about?