Southport and Formby Girls Netball Tournament

After being crowned champions at the Southport and Formby Girls Netball Tournament, our Year 8 A Team were automatically entered to represent North Sefton in the Year 8 Netball Competition at the Merseyside School Games on Wednesday 25th March 2015.

Our squad of Maisie Johnson, Hannah Kehoe, Sasha Taylor, Millie McHale, Lottie Ashton, Lauren Simpon, Lia Darby and Anna Mullinder travelled with Mrs Oliver and me over the water to Wirral Girls Grammar School filled with excitement and hopeful to make the final to be in with a chance of being crowned the overall winning team in the whole of Merseyside.

Our hopes were dashed a little when we arrived and the fixtures were handed out as we soon realised we were drawn in Pool 2 along with the overall winners who just pipped us to win last year in a tense final. The other teams in there representing the Wirral, Liverpool, Halton and St Helens were formidable opposition and we predicted that if we had been drawn in Pool 1 we would have won that pool to make it to the final.

With determination, assertion and a fighting spirit running through their veins, our girls set out to prove to the other teams in their pool that they were out to win every game. In our first match against Cowley High (St. Helens) we won 13-10. In our second game against Wirral Grammar School B (Wirral) we won 14-10. In our third game against Archbishop Blanch (Liverpool) again we thrashed the opposition at 12-6. Everything was going to plan as we enjoyed our lunch. With heavy stomachs with food and a dent in our pride, we lost our fourth match against a much weaker opposition. Our girls lost their focus for 2 minutes and conceded 4 goals in succession by poor choice of pass, failing to win 50/50 balls, trying to throw the big high ball over tall opposition and sloppy defending. We gifted The Heath School (Halton) with a win 9-14 and suffered our first defeat of the day. Our last match was against the overall winners from last year, Wirral Grammar School A, and our girls did well with heavy legs and stinging lungs to get 6 well deserved goals against a very tight team who were playing on their home turf. The overall score was 6-20.

Mrs Oliver and I were so disappointed for the girls who deserved to go through to the final and were genuinely unlucky to miss out, securing overall 3rd place. We did, however, remind them that they'd represented themselves, their parents, their school and their borough brilliantly well and to be the 3rd best team in the whole of Merseyside was nothing to be down about! Well Done Girls. You did yourselves proud. Hope you take away lots of positive memories from the experience.

Mrs Summers White

#Netball #Sport