Netball news
U11 Tournament at Sedbergh
On Wednesday 3rd March all the girls from Years 5 and 6 went on the long journey to play at Sedbergh Junior School. This is the second year we have entered their Preparatory Schools Invitation U11 Netball Festival. Last year we had won the main competition so we had to remember to return the shield. Nine schools had entered, Hunter Hall like us, had entered two teams. Our teams were in different sections. As there were an odd number of teams the matches were not the same length so that everyone could play all the other teams in their section and finish around the same time. This was not a problem for the girls but was difficult for Mrs Furniss who on several occasions was supposed to be umpiring both teams at the same time. Fortunately the staff from Sedbergh kindly stepped in until the final whistle had gone on the other court. The B team were made up of our U10s and were really there to have a good time and gain experience. They started well against Hunter Hall A team and the ball was travelling up and down the court. We scored one goal but conceded three. Our closest game of the section was a nail biting event against SJS. It could have gone either way but it didn’t go ours as the only goal scored was not at our end. The next three matches were more difficult as the opposition could move faster and throw the ball further. We tried hard to keep up with play, but didn’t manage to score. These teams St Mary’s Hall, Terrington and Moorfield ended up 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This meant that we were now in the plate competition. We won the first round 2-0 against Hunter Hall B which put us into the semi-final. Our other team were playing on the other court and we missed the support of our friends as we were knocked out of the competition with our 1-2 score. Meanwhile the U11s were having more success on the other court our first match was against Chetwynde a previous winner of the tournament. They were not as strong this year and we won 11-0. Highfield Priory came next, we were not as sharp, and they soon took the lead, although we started playing better we had left ourselves with too much to do, and we ended up 3-6. Casterton scored one goal whilst we scored seven. Hunter Hall B was the last match in the first round and our 10-0 win helped us secure 2nd place in our section. We had qualified for the main competition. The teams that had finished first in each league had a bye into the semi-final. The other four teams had to play to be in the semi-final.
Our first match was against Moorfield who had beaten our B team 0-7 earlier. The match was exciting we took the lead only to let them start coming back at us. Fortunately we scored two quick goals and won 4-2. Our semi-final match was against St Mary’s Hall. This was the closest match of the tournament so far, on the final whistle the score was 3 all so immediately went to ‘golden goal’. The supporters were nervous but the team were trying too hard and had stopped playing their game. It was with great relief that we were the team that scored first. The other semi-final also ended with ‘golden goal’ and so Highfield Priory narrowly beat Terrington. We were now in the final against the only team that had beaten us during the day. They were feeling confident but we wanted revenge so everyone was expecting a good match. Both teams found it hard to score especially them as Emma King and Isobel Higginbotham were doing an exceptional job defending the D. Annabelle Fuller was jumping higher than ever to intercept the balls and Emma Tomlinson was creating space so that she was easier to find when starting the attack. The final whistle went and unbelievably this was another level score 2-2, resulting in a third match in a row on ‘golden goal’. The team obviously like exercising Mrs Furniss’s heart! We had most of the attack but were finding it hard to score, fortunately we did eventually manage and retained the trophy.
Well played to all the girls especially the A team, Annabelle Fuller, Isobel Higginbotham, Emily Kernaghan, Emma King, Sophia Metcalfe, Emma Tomlinson, Lorna Williams and Samantha Baker-Jones who came away with medals.
Netball Tournament at Queen Margaret's School, York.
On Friday 5th February 2010 ten girls, from Years 5 and 6, went to Queen Margaret’s to play in their ‘Junior Schools’ Tournament’. Twenty-four schools from Scotland to Norfolk entered either a hockey or netball team. Sandwiched between the morning and afternoon sessions was a cross-country event. The day started out cold and wet but fortunately did improve as we were outside for the whole day apart from lunch and tea which was kindly provided by Queen Margaret’s.
Eighteen teams had entered the netball tournament which was divided into three groups of six. Each team had five matches to play before the winners of each league and the best runner-up qualified for the semi-finals. Our first match was against Tregellis from York; they had won the netball last year so we expected it to be tough. It took a while for both teams to settle down and it wasn’t a very high scoring game but we were happy with our 2-1 win. We had an early lunch because the next four matches were after lunch and we were on first. We played Woodleigh, who aren’t as strong this year because of low numbers, and found scoring easier. We won 13-0. The next two games resulted in an identical score line. We beat St Mary’s ‘A’ from Lincoln and Ashdell 9-0. The last match was a bit closer but we had grown in confidence and came away with a 6-0 win. This meant we were through to the semi-finals against Froebelian. Although throughout the day we had played some skilful netball we had not come across a team that had put us under pressure from the starting whistle. Froebelian were a very well drilled team and we soon found ourselves two goals down. We put up a great battle but were struggling to catch up. We lost 4-6. All the girls gave of their best and should be pleased with their performance. At the presentation speeches a prize is awarded for the best netball and hockey player of the day. A girl from Froebelian won the netball, but we were the only school that had three girls nominated, Annabelle Fuller, Isobel Higginbotham and Emma Tomlinson.
U9s vs Westville
On Friday 29th January 2010 the U9s played netball against Westville. We started with the ball and managed to get it into our D to score, but then they managed to score as well to make it 1 all. They scored again so our team had to pull themselves together and we did manage to score 1 more time before half time. When we went back on after half time we scored again and kept the ball away from their D. At the end of the game the score was 3-2 to us. Special mentions go to Evie Barnard and Sam Henderson for being great goal shooters and to the rest of the team for their great team work.
By Lucy Foggitt
U11 and U10 v Cundall Manor
On Wednesday 25th November 2009, the Year 5 and 6 girls went to Cundall Manor to play hockey and netball. It was amazing that the fixture could be played when you consider all the water that was lying around. Cundall only have one netball court so we had to split up, the U11s played hockey first and the U10s played netball. This makes it very difficult for Mrs Furniss to see all the matches but with a quick jog up and down the hill she managed to catch half of all the games.
The U10s have made good progress in netball but were just a little bit slower around the court and Cundall soon got ahead. This did not stop us working hard and we made some good moves up the court showing that we can dodge and pass well. The U11s were having an equally tough game on the hockey pitch. Unfortunately we did not have a consistently good hit which meant a lot of running around. This running soon tired us out and we found that when we had made a good break we did not have sufficient numbers to finish the attack with a goal. The defence improved as the game went on but, on several occasions left the goalkeeper in a one on one situation, Cundall took advantage of this and scored three goals. After a quick changeover we started the second set of matches. The U10s started well and were determined to go and meet the ball after winning the tackle we found that we couldn’t always get it to the next player and we had to start again. We were trying hard to pass the ball and that will help us in the future, but again Cundall were the winning team. Meanwhile on the netball court there was another tough battle going on. We had taken the lead only to let them come back at us. We made some great interceptions but then did a silly pass. When we settled down into our game and started thinking about the things we could do well we began to play a good game. We are beginning to expect Emma King to intercept every ball in defence and Isobel is now getting used to having to change from defence into attack quickly. Annabelle is a key player moving the ball up the court and when Emma T remembers to hang back we soon change the opposition’s attack into a goal chance for us. We eventually won the match 8-4 the last quarter was not easy as it was getting dark.
U11 and U10 Netball v Westville
On Wednesday we played an Under 11A and B team against Westville. The A team played first. Although we started with some good passing every mistake we made was punished by a goal from Westville and by quarter time we were 3-0 down. In the second quarter we let them score 2 more early goals. Mrs Furniss was beginning to think that after she had just witnessed the best goal in hockey she had seen for years she was going to see the worst result in netball. We like to keep her heart working and eventually scored three quick goals! At half-time we were 5-3 down. At three quarter time we were level 7 all. So there was everything to play for in the last quarter. We quickly got it to 8 all in the last few minutes and then we took the lead and won 10-9. This was probably the most exciting match seen this year and the standard was excellent. Special mention to Annabelle and Emma T for consistent play, Emily T for her improved catching, Samantha for her goals, Emma K for her great defensive play, but the player of the day was Isobel for her exceptional jumping and interceptions. It was a hard act for the U11B team to follow. They worked as hard as they could but we had a definite height disadvantage. We managed to score in every quarter but found it hard to stop their really tall Goal Attack from scoring lots. The final score was 13-5 to Westville. Mrs Furniss was pleased with everyone but a special mention needs to go to Lexie for her speed at picking up the ground balls and there were two players of the game: Sophia for helping the ball into the D and Lily for her hard work in defence. We need to keep working hard as next week we meet Cundall and we have a hockey tournament.
U11 Netball v Brackenfield
Wednesday 30th September
Both matches started slowly and our teams were not converting their chances into goals. The U11s worked hard and at half-time were ahead by one. Several girls changed position and with renewed enthusiasm went out to face the second half. The defence were determined that the ball was not going to enter the D and fed it to our attackers. We had possession for the majority of the 3rd quarter. We doubled our score whilst keeping them from scoring at all. We changed round again for the final quarter and succeeded in scoring a further three goals. Again we kept Brackenfield as far away from scoring as possible and if they did break our defence they didn’t manage to score. The result was 11-3.The U10s were watching the ball well and running in for the interception but unfortunately their passes were not accurate at first and their hard work was not rewarded. We got the ball up to the D but our shooters were finding it difficult to catch the ball near the post and although we had more chances than Brackenfield we couldn’t get ahead. The score at half-time was 3-3. Our hard work paid off in the second half as our passes got more accurate our confidence grew. We were moving the ball quite quickly and were jumping well. Like the Under 11s we managed to score and Brackenfield didn’t. We won 7-3. We need to keep working as we have two tough matches this weekend against Lyndhurst.
