U16 Netball Team 2nd best in the whole of the Southwest!

Success for our U16 Netball Team:

    

Our U16 netball team travelled to Bournemouth on the 28^th of January to represent Devon at the Southwest of England National Schools competition. They made an impressive start to the tournament by beating Truro school 17-3. Parkstone Grammar proved to be a challenging match, but our team managed to stay calm throughout, with Claudia Lofthouse helping to create passing opportunities and prevent the opposition’s possession, with her agility and ability to read the game, as C, and the team secured their second win of the day with a score of 7-4.

Next was Marlborough College and our centre court play was highly effective with WA, Zoe Attwood, creating space and feeding with accuracy to our shooters. Tilly Hindley, as WD, worked extremely hard to prevent the ball being received in the defensive end and driving up the court to pass the ball to our attackers. This ensured a 13 goals to 3 win. Our next game was our toughest of the tournament, and despite an incredible effort by all the team players we were defeated by Redmaids School, 8 – 13.

There was no time to worry about this as we had to play Millfield. We knew going into this match that it would be the decider on whether we, or they, went through to the semi-final. We had to win it at best and at least draw. This was the closest match all day and every player had to ‘dig deep’ to put 100% energy and effort into the full 14 minutes. The final whistle blew just as Imogen Holter had been awarded a penalty pass or shot, the score was 7 – 6 to Millfield. Everything rested on whether or not she could get the goal ….. and she did!!!!! Final score 7 goals to 7.

This meant going into our final game we had the same number of points as Millfield but had to increase our goal difference to go through to the semi-final. Our defenders, Molly Gibbs and Millie White, were exceptional in every game, reducing the chances that all the oppositions had to score. They were formidable and had an enormous number of interceptions in every match. In this final game they prevented the opposition from scoring any goals and we were victorious with a score of 19 goals to 0.

Our semi-final match was against Bournemouth Grammar School and the pressure was on. The whole team rose to the occasion, in this extremely close game. The final score was 13-9, which meant we were through to the final. Lily Rutland was a motivating captain offering encouragement and constructive advice throughout. This is in addition to successfully scoring nearly 100% of the shots she took, whilst always then running back down the court to defend the ball when the opposition gained possession.

We then played Redmaids again and our wonderful reserves, Charlotte Bruce and Nelly Stock, having spent the whole day cheering the team on, giving great coaching tips and encouraging every player, had their tournament debut in this final match. Both players displayed fantastic movement around the court and effectively helped the team to turnover the ball on several occasions. This match was the 8^th game of the day and despite the immense effort of every member of the team the opposition was once again too strong, and we lost 9-13.

However, there is everything to celebrate as our U16 netball team are now the Runners Up, making them the 2^nd best U16 school netball team in the whole of the Southwest of England and on March 11^th will compete in the English National Schools Championships.

I would like to thank both Mrs Greaves and Miss MacIlwrath for giving up their time to support the students in this event, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to all the players and huge congratulations to them all for this outstanding achievement. They displayed excellence, resilience and positivity throughout the day and deserve to be through to the National final. All credit must go to them, for not only have they always attended club and matches representing the school, but they must be commended for the years of commitment to training and hard work that they have all put in out of school, making themselves the phenomenal individual and team players that they are. We are extremely proud of them all!  Ms Oyo, head of Physical Education