Telferscot Netball Yr 5’s

Last Friday, our Honeywell netballers had a lovely afternoon playing friendly netball against Telferscot School.

With 15 kids we rotated on and off while Telferscot rotated through their 11 children. From the outset, our Honeywell netballers looked to be the more experienced players, and it was great to see them put into match play what they have learned over the past couple of years. They were in command of the game for most of the time, passing and moving to get the ball down to their goal end and ‘marking up’ to stop their opponents from receiving the ball – Honeywell’s defence from all players was tight and they forced a large number of errors from the Telferscot players.  

In the first rotation, Bene was solid as always in Centre, ably assisted through the mid court by Emilie and Ella. What was lovely to watch was how the Honeywell Netballers didn’t crowd around the feeder but knew to wait and let other players take certain balls, then drive into space themselves to assist in bringing the ball down the court. I was a little surprised by this, as we were playing on a smaller court, so crowding was something I was worried about. But being in command of the game meant our netballers weren’t panicking on the ball and took their time to read the flow of the game really well.  

In the defence end, Benji and Darcy maintained pressure on the Telferscot shooters and kept them from scoring at all, then turned the ball over with interceptions or used backline throw-ins to help drive the ball down to our goal end. Bene and Emilie fed some lovely balls in to Safia, who was working well to find space around the goal circle and to Milla, who used her height as an advantage. And with a lower height ring, the goals were going in effortlessly. 6-0 to Honeywell.  

For the next quarter we rotated another set of players on, who looked equally eager to play some good netball. Isabella was a steady Centre, working well with Jess who was quick to get into space and the two passed the ball effortlessly to Safia AK and Amir in the goal circle. After a few shots to ’warm up’, we started getting the points on the board.  

For the Telferscot shooters, it was another story as Ada and Tabi put on a solid defence and kept their shooters from scoring. Equally through the mid court, Esme was working hard in defence and Honeywell were doing well to control the game. It started to feel a little embarrassing as nobody likes a thrashing, but with a little guidance to the Telferscot players from Chris as she umpired, and with their enthusiasm and determination, the Telferscot players kept driving the ball down to their goal end and finally managed to score a couple of goals. 4-2 to Honeywell.  

Subbing our first team on again as Telferscot mixed their players around, we began another round whereby Honeywell took control of the matchplay. However, the Telferscot players did look to be gaining confidence and some players in particular were really improving. But with Honeywell’s strong defence, we manages to keep them from scoring again. In our goal end the balls were going in effortlessly, first with Safia and Milla, then we subbed Safia AK on and she also worked hard to get into good places from which to score. 9-0 to Honeywell. 

Past experience has shown us that in these situations, we are better off mixing up the teams to create two more fairly matched, so we mixed our Honeywell players with the Telferscot players and some lovely match play unfolded. Players were driving onto the ball, turning and passing toward the goal, and working together as new teams.  

I also had two players ask to move positions. Whilst it’s difficult to grant all players’ their preferred place when they all shout out at training, I admire players for coming forward quietly to have a word and ask for what they want. Jess asked me first, so I put her into GA… and she stepped up and showed how hungry she was to achieve in that position. Constantly moving around the goal circle she got into spaces from which to take a few shots. Ada had also asked to have a go in GA, so I then moved her into position on her team and she easily switched from defence to attack and worked toward her goal.  

It was lovely to see players step up into new positions or to playing with new teammates and show how much they have learnt about this game. Watching friendly, competitive netball with good sportsmanship was a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon. Well done to all netballers!