Here Herts Mavericks captain Layla Guscoth writes her second exclusive column for the Welwyn Hatfield Times.

In the week since my first column, we have reached the end of the first phase of the season – having played all the other Superleague teams.

The first half has flown by, with seven games played and a great achievement of seven wins out of eight games. It was topped off with an amazing victory against our London rivals Surrey Storm at the Copper Box this past Saturday.

Only two of us in the squad remember last beating Surrey Storm, myself and Lindsay Keable. Amazingly this was in 2011 in our winning Netball SuperLeague Grand Final.

Since then they have held the dominance of the south east after defeating us in the final of the competition last year. Therfore, you can imagine how good it feels to be able to sit here telling you about beating them at the Copper Box!

For those that don’t know about Netball London Live, it is an annual game between Herts Mavericks and our local rivals Storm.

London Live is always a great event, and this year over 6,000 fans descended on the Copper Box to watch what always promises to be a feisty and passionate exchange.

It was a real honour to lead the team to this victory and it was fantastic after three years of the event to finally leave with a win and a great team performance.

We had another a quick turn-around with Celtic Dragons on Monday night at our home arena but we managed to get the job done in that so we’re now top which is a great achievement.

I am taking a couple of weeks away from netball whilst I focus on sitting my final exams to be a doctor.

Juggling revision for medical school finals and maintaining the fitness and training required for this level of netball has been a real challenge and I look forward to facing the second half of the season exam-free and ready to secure a coveted spot in the final four.

At the moment those spots are wide open, we’ve already seen teams register some unexpected results, and this is proving to be the most exciting Superleague competition to date. We are grateful for the support of our fans and would love to see you at our home matches.

If you’ve never been before we guarantee it will be a truly great spectacle.

Layla