Woodbridge Netballers Go Through to County Finals!
Ahead of half term our U14, U16 and U19 netballers took part in the South Suffolk Tournaments, with some fantastic results and lots of learning and development opportunities. With three tournaments in two days, we knew it was going to be a busy one!
Woodbridge U14s vs. Ipswich High, St Jo’s, RHS, Ipswich School and Farlingaye
The U14s started off on a beautiful Monday afternoon, which felt just like summer. Our first match was against a strong Ipswich High team, one which had beaten us in the league tournament two weeks ago, so the pressure was on. We managed to find our feet from the starting whistle and put on a strong performance. Coming away with a 6-4 win was a good start.
Next up were St Jo’s. Level pegging for the whole game until the final 10 seconds of the game where they went ahead by one goal. This dampened our spirits, but the girls knew they had to step up a gear against RHS in the next match. Another competitive and similar match to the previous one, but luckily we went ahead by one goal and won 9-8. With two matches left to go, it was all the play for.
Our match against Ipswich School was yet another match with end-to-end netball. Unfortunately, again, we lost by one goal (5-4) and the same was repeated in our final game v Farlingaye. Our shots were unfortunately not converted, and we lost 7-10, which resulted in us coming in 4th place, so just missing out on a place at the county round. A lot of lessons were learned during the afternoon, but the girls should be proud of how they played and conducted themselves.
Woodbridge U16s vs. Farlingaye, RHS, St Jo’s, Ipswich High School and Ipswich School
Faced with five games on a sunny afternoon at Rushmere, the U16s arrived up for the challenge. We played Farlingaye first and were able to put a good win under our belts with some great shooting, defending and centre court play. With the team consisting of both Year 11s and Year 10s, it was the first time they had come together on court.
Next up were RHS, and unfortunately an injury sustained to one of our players meant we were a bit out of sorts and narrowly lost – having to put one of our shortest players in as a direct defensive replacement didn’t help! We then were up against St Jo’s and won 12-2, putting on a solid performance which we knew we had in us. Next it was Ipswich High, and in a tight game they just took the edge. Ipswich School were our last opponents and after only being down one at half time put up a good fight, but they were just that little bit ahead of us all game, unfortunately. Finishing in 4th place was a great achievement seeing as we lost a player in the second game. A real learning curve and great potential shown from the whole squad. Well done!
Woodbridge U19s vs. RHS, Farlingaye, Northgate, Ipswich School A and B team, and St Jo’s A and B team
What an afternoon! The U19s had a super successful tournament, challenging at times, but managing to keep their cool, playing together as a team and dominating their opposition. With 120 goals scored and only 35 goals against, it shows the depth of both our attacking and defensive players.
First up was RHS, and the team settled very quickly and found their rhythm, resulting in a 19-2 victory. Next was Ipswich School B team, followed and Farlingaye where we came away with two wins, 17-3 and 15-7. Northgate were next, and this being our fourth match on the bounce, legs were tired, so we found the game challenging in the first half. Luckily, we picked up the pace and won 17-7.
Our last three games were against Ipswich School and St Jo’s A and B teams, and both schools’ A teams had both won all their games so far, just like us.
Stepping on the court to face Ipswich, the girls knew they couldn’t afford to make any mistakes or allow the opposition to dominate. The game was end to end during the first few minutes of the first half, then unfortunately, we allowed Ipswich to take control of the game and we did not play to our strengths, which left us 8-5 down at half time. The half time talk was positive and constructive – we needed to play to our strengths and expose the opposition’s weaknesses, and that is exactly what we did. Scoring four goals on the trot after converting our centre passes and turning over Ipswich’s, we were level pegging. The final minute was nail biting (especially for me on the sideline!), the girls fought with everything they had and played brilliantly, especially dominating the 6ft 5″ Goal Shooter! We went 13-11 ahead and the final whistle blew…we had done it!
Elation was an understatement! Still on our high, we faced our last two matches knowing that we had to win them both in order to be 1st place overall, and we did just that. Our final scores were 15–4 against St Jo’s A team and 24–1 v St Jo’s B team.
A superb afternoon of netball. Well done to the team on their amazing performance and thank you to all the spectators. The team look forward to the County finals on Saturday 16 November at ISSC, where the top two teams will head to Regionals in January.
