Netball Report – October 2023
Our netball report holds details of our U14 and U16 teams who secured a place at the County round of the National Schools’ Netball tournament earlier this week, as well as news of our U19 team’s tournament matches.
Woodbridge U14s secure place at County round
Massive congratulations to the U14 Netball team who secured a place at the County round of the National Schools’ Netball tournament earlier this week after being undefeated. They started the afternoon with strong performances against RHS and Ipswich High School where they came away with two wins, followed by a tough match against Farlingaye, who made the girls work hard, but again, after some superb defending all the way down the court and shooting, we won. Our next three games were against East Bergholt, Ipswich School and St Jo’s. Again, the girls put on extremely strong performances and came away with another three wins. They definitely rose to the challenge against St Jo’s who put pressure on our shooters in the first half of the game to try and keep them away from the circle, but we quickly adapted our play in the second half to counteract this pressure and again, we were successful.
Playing six matches on the bounce without a break was always going to be tiring for the team, but every single player, played with the utmost grit, determination, and desire to succeed – something they should be extremely proud of. Various combinations enabled players to try out different positions and to give our centre court a much-needed break. During the afternoon, the team scored a total of 94 goals and only conceded 32, which is a fantastic achievement.
Well done, girls, on an excellent afternoon of netball and a well-deserved place in the next round. Thank you also to the amazing sideline of supporters!
Woodbridge U19s tournament matches
Our U19s had more of a difficult challenge in their respective tournament. With Year 10’s Lyrah and Millie both making their debut due to injuries, the team played some brilliant netball during the afternoon and did not give up without a fight. Facing physically strong opposition who dominated us on occasions was difficult, but when we managed to find our feet and play our own game, we played excellently as a team, defending hard and picking up lose interceptions and following every missed shot for the rebounds.
Our first game against Ipswich School was a tough one, but at half time we were down by three goals, so all to play for. Unfortunately, with their quick and dominating play, which we allowed them to do, they went ahead and won the game. Next, was another physically strong and well-drilled team, RHS, who we let dominate us. Again, we could not adapt to their style of play and narrowly lost. With three matches left against St Jo’s, Ipswich School Bs and Ipswich High, we had everything to play for. It was all even in our match against St Jo’s, and after this, the girls knew they could win their last two matches. It was another tight game against Ipswich School B, but we won and then in our last match we played the best netball we had all afternoon, and the girls were proud of their performance as they should have been. Coming away with a convincing win, was a great way to end the afternoon.
Well done, girls, on a superb effort! We were unlucky not to secure a place, but all to play for next year!
Woodbridge U16s also secure place at County round
The U16s qualified on Tuesday afternoon for the next round in November after a very hot afternoon of intense netball. The girls played six games of 14 minutes on the bounce without a break and did so well. We won our first three games against St Jo’s, East Bergholt High School, and knew that we needed to win at least five out of the six games.
We unfortunately lost our next game against Ipswich School but pulled another win out of the bag in our next game versus Ipswich High School. We had some tired players on our hands, and some suffering from colds but they battled on nonetheless.
Unfortunately, we met a strong Farlingaye side and lost and then had a nail-biting wait to see if we had qualified, which we had!! There were some standout performances from Lara who played in every zone on the court and ran her socks off, Bonnie who shot and commanded our attacking circle really well, Juno and Georgia who dominated our defence and Phoebe who played brilliantly when she stepped on the court.
All the girls should be proud of themselves, it was a great display of teamwork and resilience. Well done.
