Over the past decade, Cantabrians have become accustomed to adversity and that's certainly what the Mainland Tactix are facing right now.
The Christchurch-based netball franchise is preparing for the revamped ANZ Premiership without backroom staff, who have lost their paid positions.
"This has been something just a little bit different again and I do think we're pretty good at adversity," coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek has told Newshub.
That "something" includes the loss of their assistant coach and manager from paid positions, after Netball Mainland went into voluntary liquidation last month and Netball NZ took over management of the Tactix.
The fallout from COVID-19 is just the latest blow for the already struggling organisation.
"They're people that have worked really hard for the franchise, but we are amazing at adversity here, so we're just getting up and going with it," says Delaneey-Hoshek.
Centre Erikana Pedersen tells Newshub the squad wants to do right by their now-departed former colleagues.
"A few tears were shed, but I guess it acts as a bit of a motivation factor for us, just to perform for those people who have unfortunately lost their jobs," Pederson says.
With the announcement of a revised 10-round ANZ Premiership, they'll get a chance to do that, when the competition begins in Auckland next month.
Adding to their determination is the fact they'll be taking charter flights every week to compete.
"The team's been through so much and we have the team for it this year," Pederson says. "We just need to put it out on the court now."
And it will all be done with a sense of humour.
"The girls started calling us the 'skeleton team', because there's not much of us anymore," Delaney-Hoshek jokes.
More adversity could play into the hands of the Mainland Tactix.
