U11 Netball v Stamford/Copthill at Stamford Junior School 2.30pm

Venue: AWAY at Stamford junior School PE9 2WB (Nursery Car Park)

Coach: Mrs Felton Mrs Cook-James

Lunch Time: 12.30pm

Timings:

2.55pm v Copthill

3.30pm v Stamford

4.00pm Tea

4.30pm Depart

Approx Return Time: 5.45pm

Alice A (captain)

Esme M

Amelia D

Grace S

Gabby dC

Martha B

Aurora F

Liberty D

Jasmine G

Annabel S

Notes: Change 1st break. Water bottles essential.  Tracksuits for travelling and for match tea.

Report

It was a successful afternoon for the U11 netball team on Wednesday, with Alice leading the team this week.  The team travelled to Stamford to play in a triangular fixture against the hosts, Stamford B team and Copthill B team.

Our opening game was against Copthill and St Hugh's didn't take long to intercept the ball from the centre pass.  They worked hard for one and other and this led to some great phases of attacking play.  Our court transition this week was very impressive and our defensive team made some cracking interceptions to regain possession. Aurora, Liberty and Martha worked incredibly hard to deny the opposition space.  Esme played a key role in Centre, linking passes between our defence and attack and also made some outstanding interceptions. At times we rushed our passes which were not 'safe', leading to us losing possession and missing out on goal scoring opportunities.  Esme and Annabel did very well to work the ball into the circle on a number of occasions and Alice had several shots hitting the ring.  Although her shooting record (from the circle edge!) was outstanding during training this week, the pressure did affect her performance a little. However we did convert and St Hugh's were pleased to go into half time 2-1 up.  In the second half, we saw Amelia come on and join our defence and I was really pleased to see her creating space and using change of speed and direction in order to receive the ball. Alice warmed up in the second half, scoring another two goals to finish the match 4-1 to St Hugh's. 

By the time our second match began, the girls were warmed up (mentally more than physically!) and it was end to end in the first half against Stamford. Again, our court transition was excellent at times, with players putting into practice what we have been working on in training. We all reacted quicker to the umpire's whistle and remembered the basics of changing direction! Both Grace and Gabby had shots in this half but struggled to capitalise and we went into half time with a scoreless draw. Early into the second half, St Hugh's took the lead with a fantastic shot from Alice.  This was shortly followed by Stamford's GS finding the net.  A really competitive and exciting match, with St Hugh's narrowly losing 2-1.

A great team effort today girls, well done!  Thank you to our parents who travelled to support.