Fawns ready to play for Australia at Fast5 Netball World Series

A surprise selection in the Australian Fast5 squad last month was just the cherry on top of a fantastic year for the 19-year-old.

Joining the Australian camp over the weekend, Fawns said it's been an exciting time following her first opens national selection.

"I'm feeling really nervous but really excited, the selection was quite unexpected, especially so long after the season but I'm really excited," Fawns said.

"I played [Australian Netball Championships] after our season had finished and went to under 21s Aussie camp, but really had no idea that I'd be picked for Fast5."

The youngest athlete selected on the Australian Fast5 Netball World Series squad, Fawns is soaking in every bit of information she can.

Experienced with underage national camps, including this year's under 21s camp, Fawns has been adjusting to being less experienced than some of her teammates.

"It feels a bit weird being the youngest in the team, I feel with the underage camps at least I've got a bit more of the hang of it, or a bit more experience than a few of the other girls who've been selected, but here everyone's just as experienced, if not more, and we've got some girls that are in the Diamonds space with us," she said.

"I'm really excited to learn off them, but it's just a bit more coming out of my shell to try and get to know them a bit more off the court too.

"I'm just really trying to learn off everyone else and having fun as well.

"Fast5 is so quick, we only play for a weekend and I've always heard how much fun it is, so I guess any experience that I can get from it, especially learning off all the older players, asking as many questions as I can now that I am in that international space."

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With players drawn in from across the Super Netball league, Fawns said it's been nice to work alongside new players and get to know them as teammates rather than opposition.

Having fellow Swifts player Teigan O'Shannassy alongside her has helped.

"It has been very nice [having O'Shannassy around] and Matisse Letherbarrow from Giant as a reserve has been good," she said.

"More than half the team I think are Thunderbirds players but they're all very lovely people, great girls on and off the court, so I'm excited to come together as one team and get to play with players that you normally would verse during the year."

Having never played the Fast5 format before, she said there was a huge mental shift in the first days of camp.

"I've never played Fast5 before, but I know even when we were training back in Sydney, I was like oh gosh this is definitely a different game," Fawns said.

"It's so much faster paced and you've got to be so much more fit than you think.

"It's a very strategic game, but because it's so fast paced you've really got to use your brain."

The team will arrive in Christchurch this week for the final days of their training camp ahead of the tournament start on Saturday.

Fawns said despite last year's success, she's not feeling any pressure on the team.

"I feel like at the moment we've got a new batch of girls, we've got some who played last year but most of us it's our first time playing Fast5 so I think everyone's really excited to get out there," Fawns said.

The Fast5 Netball World Series begins on November 11 and features teams from Australia, England, New Zealand, Jamaica, Malawi, and South Africa.

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