The domestic basketball season returns next month with both Waterford teams out on the court on October 1st.
The Wildcats will welcome Ulster University to the Mercy Gym in the women's Super League, while the Vikings are on the road to Ballymakenny College for a date with Drogheda Wolves.
Last season was mostly positive for the Wildcats with a third-place finish in the league regular season as well as a cup semi-final appearance.
Six months have passed since the last games for either team, and Wildcats head coach Tommy O' Mahnoy is delighted to have a fixture list to begin planning for, saying "The players will have been working for the last couple of weeks. We've got some friendly games coming up. Delighted for the season ahead and raring to go now."
The main focus for O' Mahony as the return approaches will be to get the player's skills back up to pace as a lot of players may not have gone near a basketball in the time off, while the S & C program has already kicked off for the players who have been working individually so far.
Every year Irish teams take in American players as part of their squads and this year is no different for the Wildcats. Two guards will join the ranks for the year with Maggie Meehan (Connecticut) and Karli Seay (Chicago) making the trip across the Atlantic. Meehan has already landed on Irish shores, while her Chicago colleague is due to arrive in the coming days/weeks.
O' Mahony - who has spent his time in the Wildcats' off-season coaching the Irish women's U18 side - is hoping to see his new Americans make a big impact on the league. "We always say at the start of the season, 'who's the favorites for the league?' I suppose in any other sport you can guess, but will basketball you can't. Realistically it's who's the two best Americans. Obviously, the Irish players play a huge part of it, but when you're looking to the Americans you want them to be the scoring power - if they're not, then you're in trouble."
Aside from his national commitments, O' Mahony took a slight left-field turn this summer when he joined the Waterford senior camogie backroom team as an analyst. The Kerry native had played football previously, but had never got involved in any of the other codes. The players all spoke highly of the outside influence that he brought to the setup, with one player commenting to WLR Sport that he had a massive impact on their tactical preparations en route to the All-Ireland semi-final with Cork.
