High 5 Netball - Yr 5's Claim Silver in a Yr 6 Comp

What a fabulous achievement from our Year 5 netballers on Wednesday!! Chris and I may have failed to tell them it was a Year 6 tournament beforehand, as we had entered them into the B team round ‘for the experience'… and with 20 teams alongside numerous umpires, coaches and Burntwood School helpers there on site, it was quite an experience to be had.

I have to say, the level of netball played this year in the B tournament was of a much better standard than many of the teams playing four or five years ago when it wasn’t run as ‘A’ and ‘B’ team tournaments. Back then, there were numerous players on court who had received next-to-no coaching and weren’t even aware of a need to pass toward the goal. On Wednesday, there was still quite a difference in the amount of coaching different teams had undertaken, but it was fabulous to see so many children getting out on court to give their all and compete for their team. And seeing how well our Year 5s did at this level made me even more proud…  

Vs Allfarthing 5-0

Working on a strict rotational basis for players in different positions, we started with five of our nine players on court. Nerves are always expected for the first match, and whilst we saw a few errors (random passes, footwork, passes intercepted…), our netballers showed that they knew what they had to do and were determined to drive the ball down to our shooters.

Delisa and Hamish kept a very tight defence and managed a number of interceptions to turn the ball over and with Safia steady in the centre and helping them send it down the court, we managed to keep the ball in our goal end for much of the game. Ned was ferocious at finding space around the goal circle and keen to pass off to Ella, knowing that her eye for shooting was just that bit stronger. After a couple of attempts to settle her nerves, Ella then popped steady goal after goal in while Hamish and Delisa stopped Allfarthing from scoring at all. 5-0 to Honeywell was a great first result.

Vs St Mary’s 2-0

We expected some nerves again with the players for whom this was their first match of the day. With Elana steering in the Centre, she passed and moved into space to help get the ball down to Safia and Willa in the goal circle. A missed first shot then saw Safia steady herself to pop one in to give us a lead and a positive lift. With only 7-minutes played per match, getting early goals in can be quite crucial.

With a number of errors for this game too, we had to put it down to the overwhelming din of the crowd, as you never can predict how 10-year olds (or any of us for that matter!) will deal with such an atmosphere on the day. But these netballers showed once again they knew what they had to do and stepped up to perform despite the challenging environment – Milla and Anneli worked to keep the St Mary’s shooters from gaining too many possessions down their goal end, and drove the ball back to Safia and Willa in our goal end. A missed shot from Willa then saw her steady her second shot and put it through for a clear lead. It’s always rewarding to see our ‘non-shooters’ score in tournaments when you know they have put in the extra work to practice their shooting! A 2-0 win was another great result.

Vs Belleville Wix 2-0

For the majority of this game, the ball was up our goal end – most of the attempts that Belleville made to drive the ball down to their goal end saw their flow of play blocked by Ella or Ned who were watching in their defence positions just over the transverse line, with eyes steady for interceptions. Delisa was very helpful to move into space and gain possession then pass the ball into our shooters, Elana and Hamish, but unfortunately, we were struggling to get any points on the board! A few missed shots, with a lot of bad luck for Hamish – as he was often found himself right under the goal post after gaining a rebound, and that is not an easy place to shoot from – then Belleville’s very tall defender would get that rebound and they would try to pass back down the court again, only to be met by Ella and Ned ready to intercept the ball and we started the process back to our shooters via Delisa again… It felt like an age before perseverance paid off and Elana got that first goal in – but of course it wasn’t that long – and finally we (I) could breathe a little more slowly… then another Elana special, shooting from the hip or so it seemed and we fully relaxed with another 2-0 win.

Vs St Boniface 1-1

Often, these all-day tournaments are a little too much for some players, and as a person whose brain doesn’t like a lot of background noise, I sympathise with anyone who finds the atmosphere overwhelming. So maintaining focus and 'that drive’ is not easy for everybody as the somewhat frenetic and noisy atmosphere can take its toll on concentration levels.

Our game against St Boniface was an example of this, as some of our young netballers seemed a little dazed and confused. St Boniface, on the other hand, were showing a keen drive to win – and they had definitely undertaken a lot more coaching than in previous years! Their drive towards the goal was relentless, but thankfully, so was Willa! Running in from all angles on court, she made interception after interception, managing to turn the ball over again and again. 

In our goal end, Delisa was working hard to get into a space to shoot from, but the St Boniface defenders were doing well to make it difficult for her and Milla, and any chances we had to take a shot weren’t quite on target today. The St Boniface defenders were hot on to any rebounds too, and managed to turn the ball over to drive it back down the court. Safia maintained a really tight defence and managed to shut her player out, and Willa remained uncompromising against her tall opponent, jumping in front of him to intercept balls passed his way and turn the ball over to send it down our goal end again. 

St Boniface managed to score about mid-way through the match – the first goal we had conceded all day – and it seemed to be the impetus needed to turn this team’s fire back on. Anneli and Delisa worked together to get the ball into the goal circle, and one more chance from Milla was missed before she refocussed and popped one through the net. A 1-1 draw after three solid wins still saw us in a good position for finishing top of our draw!

 Vs Belleville 1-0

Meeting the Runners-Up Team from the other draw in this semi final, we knew we wanted to win and get through to a final with The Roche. Honeywell maintained a steady flow to their game for this match, and had most of the possession. Knowing what they had to do, Ella and Ned passed and dodged and passed and dodged, to bring the ball down to Milla in the goal circle. But unfortunately, our shooters couldn’t equate effort into points on the score board and Belleville were quick to use a rebound to show they also wanted to get through to the final – their drive to their goal end was strong. But Elana and Hamish were tenacious in defence, and it has to be noted that while we had seven shots at goal in this match, Belleville had none! Elana and Hamish kept those shooters from getting into any comfortable positions from which to score. 

When time was up and the score was 0-0, I was hesitant to agree to any Golden Goal rule. Honeywell had clearly been the better side, but had been unlucky not to score. So I pushed for extra time and all agreed. Honeywell kept the same intensity and drive to the goal, but it still felt luck was not on our side. However, with Willa in GA after Ella had asked to sub off for injury, she proved that determination was all that was needed and as one of our 'non-shooters’ she popped a goal in to secure a lead.

By now, I knew I had overshot my pledge to remain calm and uncompetitive all day, so I pushed this team to maintain their defence and not let Belleville comeback with a score for themselves… 1-0 and we were in the final!

Vs The Roche 1-6

Honeywell started strong and looked hungry for a win, managing to put a lot of pressure on The Roche and force quite a few easy errors. Coach Maria was not happy and The Roche team upped their game.

This Year 5 Honeywell team had already proven that their capabilities on court were far above many Year 6 teams from other schools, but so had The Roche. To be fair, The Roche as a team, were not particularly stronger than us, but their two shooters were quite exceptional. They kept our defenders Delisa and Anneli, running ragged, and still they couldn’t keep up. Goal after goal went in…And even though Honeywell had Willa in the Centre working tirelessly to help drive the ball down to our shooters, Safia’s defender had arms like an octopus and seemed to intercept every ball. Ella finally got into a position to score, but The Roche managed two quick goals after that and it felt like we weren’t coming back from this one.

It looked as if the team recognised this too, as some players lost concentration, and finally, I relaxed. Coming away with silver medals and losing to The Roche was certainly something to be proud of for our 9-10-year old players!!

And seeing our Year 6 players who won the A-team tournament was inspiration for all… something to aim for next year! Well done to all Honeywell Netballers for a fabulous day of commitment, competition and camaraderie!