On the 20th of September, the U13 girls A team went to a netball tournament that was hosted by Ibstock Place School. Throughout the tournament we played 7 matches against a variety of schools, all of which made us think of different game plans and strategies.
Our first match was against Tiffin Girls School where we won 11 – 3. Because it was our first match, we had plenty of energy allowing us to play our best, resulting in a very positive score. Next was Highgate, where we all worked together very well resulting in another great score of 10 – 0. The defence worked extremely hard and got many interceptions and jumped for the rebounds and, as a result, we let no goals in from Highgate. Our third match was against Grey Court, this was our hardest team yet. It challenged all the positions and made us think more about the accuracy of our passes. It was drawn at half time; however, we knew we had to focus and after having a team talk, we came back only to end up scoring 5 more goals and winning the game. The game ended with a score of 9-4. Our fourth match was against Kew House school. The attack was working extremely well, allowing us to score 15 goals in only 12 minutes. Our last pool match was against Godolphin and Latymer, we found them the hardest team yet. Before the match began, everyone was a little nervous, all positions were challenged and it made us communicate and focus even more. It got to half time and the score was level. After a quick break we came back on and we ended up winning, with a score of 9-7. We were all incredibly happy because we had come first in our pool.
In the semi-final, we played the second qualifying team in the other pool which was Notting Hill and Ealing. If we won this match we would be in the final, so everybody felt a lot of pressure. Nevertheless, we stayed calm and played to the best of our ability. After a very long 12 minutes the match ended and the score was 9-7. Everyone was so excited because this meant we were in the final against Surbiton High School. Before the game began our coach gave us tips and things to work on. So we went on court and put those things into play. The idea of us winning made as all extremely excited and gave us energy to keep going. The match was up and down and at half time the score was even and we knew we needed to try our hardest to win the match. We began focusing more and making sure our passes were accurate and we did not make silly mistakes and lose the ball. After putting our all in we found out we won the match which also meant we had one the whole tournament.
We were all so proud of each other and thankful for all our coach’s help and support. We all went home that night incredibly happy with the outcome of winning the U13 Ibstock Place School Tournament.
By Tilly, Zara and Gracie
