Netball Round-Up – February 2023
Several netball matches were played ahead of the half term break by our U14, U15, U16 and Senior teams, reports on all can be found below as well as student reports from this year’s inaugural netball tour for Year 10 and 11 players.
Woodbridge U14s vs Finborough
The U14A and B teams travelled to Finborough for matches against some very physical opposition. Neither team won, but showed perseverance and improvement over the course of the matches, which bodes really well for their upcoming fixtures.
Woodbridge U15B vs Stoke, Woodbridge U15A vs Farlingaye
The U15B netball team had their first match of the season in the league against Stoke before half term. The girls played some lovely netball in all areas to win in style. Meanwhile the U15A team also won their league match against Farlingaye that week. Some decent netball was on display and plenty of lessons learned as the girls tried out some different playing positions.
Woodbridge U16A vs Farlingaye, Woodbridge Senior 1st and 2nd vs Finborough
The U16A team played Farlingaye in the league and it was a truly impressive win, with some stunning netball played across the court. A wonderful match for spectators. The 1st and 2nd teams had much tougher matches against Finborough, whose physicality proved too strong for our teams. However there were some very pleasing moments of play and lessons learnt.
Well done to everyone who played, and as ever many thanks and much appreciation for the parents who came to support matches.
Inaugural Netball Tour for Year 10 and 11 players
During half term Year 11’s Georgie P, Charlotte H, Charlotte C, Florence C, Skyla L and Marina P joined Year 10’s Bonnie B, Phoebe D, Poppy R, Georgia P, Phoebe R, Juno R and Lara Z on the inaugural short tour for a weekend of training and team bonding! The girls reported they had a wonderful time away and played some great netball. Year 11’s Charlotte and Georgie shared their experience of the tour.
Charlotte C and Georgie P
After departing from the School on Saturday morning in a packed minibus, several hours later, we arrived at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham. Covered in neon face paint and wearing obnoxiously bright glasses we watched two brilliant, tense matches. Despite the loss of our home team, Saracens Mavericks, everyone stayed in high spirits as we boarded the minibus again to head to Worksop College.
We were greeted by Zoe, our amazing tour coordinator, who showed us to our rooms. After briefly settling in, we headed to the beautiful dining hall, that looked like Hogwarts (minus the floating candles) where we then took part in a challenging quiz lead by Zoe, that involved just about everything, from Harry Styles to treasure hunts.
The next day, we spent the morning playing a fast fives tournament against a local netball team, DNC, with some exceptional out of the D shots from our shooters. After partially digesting our lunch, we clambered in to Zorbs and thoroughly battered each other for an hour. This activity definitely helped us develop our more aggressive sides, that we could transfer onto the netball court.
We then had a training session with Amanda Beevers where we worked on movement in the D, flying interceptions and communication. The evening saw us go to the cinema to watch Matilda; whilst we stuffed our faces with popcorn, we enjoyed having the entire cinema to ourselves.
On the final day, we had our last training session with Taylor Wilkinson and her sister who plays for Scotland U19 Thistles team. She taught us a new, exciting skill, zonal defence. When it all came together, we played some matches, and our new skill created some brilliant opportunities for interceptions. We then headed back, singing along to greatest showman tunes. After giving the teachers a suitably large headache, we arrived back at School, exhausted but having had a great time!
