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| Netball 3rd Team 'Blog' |
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Saturday 26th March 2011 V The Oratory U13B Match drawn 9-9 Rotating in our seventh player, so that the two sides could be balanced, enabled a hard fought and highly contested match to be enjoyed by the parents, by the umpires and I hope by the players. On a sunny and increasingly warm afternoon, both sides must be commended for what was some really good, positively flowing netball. Eagle House made up for a lack of real physical presence by anticipating the movement of the opponents' passing and when we did regain the ball from midfield (Jemima and Maria were really outstanding in this aspect) we linked well with Miriam, Lucinda and Sarah to keep the scoring ticking along. Both Sarah and Miriam worked well together to get the ball into shooting positions and score they did, well, at least nine times. Ella and Cressida controlled the defence against a very competitive and determined shooting pair and usually held their own to snuffle out often waves of attacking play. Every now and again we saw some excellent movement off the ball and a quickness of pass that opened up the opposing court and then offered a scoring opportunity. Everybody should take credit when this happened as the ball often was worked through every pair of hands. However, a hesitation in the giving of the pass enabled the opposing players to remark our players and often the move broke down. We must see the pass and make the pass in front of our players as they move forward. Similarly we must not worry about our hair so much as it should be tied and clipped back, as occasionally with one flick of our hair that hesitation opened up our defence to the Oratory attack. We must stick closer to our man all the time watching and moving with them until we regain the ball. We must never have our back to the ball. So, hot it was, and hot was the game. A draw was a fair result, although perhaps we had the opportunities to take a final lead, but then so did they. So have a good weekend's rest and we will continue the good fight on Monday in preparation for our last match on Wednesday - get some sleep so that you can play the full match without having to take a sit-down rest!!
Saturday 12th February 2011 V St George's College Lost 20-5 Opposition's player of the match: Miriam This was a tough game against an able U13B team. The girls played well, but they found it difficult to match the pace of their opposition. There was some great defending from Caitlin, Ella and Lana but we found it difficult to get free and allow the ball to progress up the court. When we did get the ball into our attacking third, Miriam moved beautifully in the circle and scored some lovely goals . The score is a little harsh, as this was a good performance from our third team. Triangular Wednesday 9th February 2011 Yateley Manor 1 - Danes Hill 3 Eagle House 1 - Danes Hill 2 Eagle House 2 - Yateley Manor 3 As the scores suggest, this was a very enjoyable little round robin 'tournament', played in the right spirit, competitively yet fairly and with much friendly rivalry. Eagle House 3rds were playing against the year 8s and 7s from Danes Hill and Yateley Manor and every now and again showed what they could produce defensively and with the ball going forward. Ella had a great afternoon in defence winning much fifty-fifty ball and she was usually supported well by Cressida and Caitlin. Henrietta and Yana shared wing defence each playing two halves, and both moved the ball well to link up with Daisy and Tianna. Lana and Miriam struggled to score with the possession they had worked hard for. There are days when the ball does not drop, but it is to their credit that they all kept going. The opposition had a couple of tall players and we let them intimidate (nicely) us when we had possession. You have to be more intelligent when you play, realising much sooner that the long floated pass is as bad as just handing the ball over to the opposition. Individuals have to move out to come much shorter to receive the ball and always attack the ball rather than let the opposing player come in to make the interception. Every now and again, it clicked and we moved the ball forward with speed, width and accuracy to enable us to take the shot. We must look for the rebound every time as seldom did we regain the ball after Miriam's shot. It was good that some of you realised that a little more was required physically when playing girls who are quicker and taller, and I do think that on the whole we did work very hard, but you must concentrate all the time, sticking closer to your opposing player. Sometimes we rather stood and watched, but you should be watching the ball all the time so that it does not surprise you when it hits you on the back of the head. All that being said, I do not think that we really deserved to lose either match, but perhaps we will make a little more of the coaching sessions and work much harder during them? Wednesday 2nd February 2011 3rds V Lord Wandsworth Won 8-1 V Cranleigh D Lost 4-5 In many ways this was a good afternoon's netball in a rearranged triangular with Cranleigh and Lord Wandsworth College. It was not that warm but the team made up of all those not required for the higher teams started positively, moving the ball with speed and accuracy to enable the two shooters to make the most of the opportunities. This was Lord Wandsworth's first outing and the game was played in the right spirit by both sides. After the two quarters(only) we then suffered a break and when we returned to face a much better Cranleigh D side, we found it difficult to get going again. Indeed we struggled with the greater physicality of the opposition and their marking which was closer and much tighter. This led to us carelessly and thoughtlessly giving away possession which Lana and Ella had snuffled from the opposition in defence. If we are struggling to hold onto the ball we cannot score goals. Everybody has to make themselves available, backing off to drive in to take the ball early. Too often weak loopy passes were quickly taken by the opposition. When we got it right, as in the hockey last week, we looked good and Mrs Nolan would have been pleased to see that the skills practised in the coaching sessions were proving beneficial. Often we moved the ball wide and up the sideline and we could (should?) have converted a few more chances. Miriam and Sarah worked tirelessly up front moving the ball well and working back to link up with the centre players. Daisy acquitted herself well in her first outiing at centre, but she, Yana, Clare, Caitlin and Tiana all allowed their opposite numbers too much space. Be awake and stay with your opposite player until we win back the ball in which case you must then find space yourselves. A lot of you will be in contention for places in more senior sides next year and I hope that you will really work hard in the coaching sessions, listening, learning, taking on the advice much more readily and practising the skills to make the most of your ability.
Wednesday 12th January 2011 3rds V Pangbourne College Won 10 – 1 Team: Lana Milner, Miriam Dewes, Tiana Larson, Ella Samuel, Laura Neat, Cressida Bass, Clare Chummun A good start to the new term girls, well done. You most definitely were the stronger team on the court, with Pangbourne’s girls struggling to move the ball from one end to the other. Your movement onto the ball for, this match, was the best I had seen you play, but you did still have a tendency to crowd towards the ball. Our attack must learn to leave it for the defence to bring the ball up the court which will then give you the space to drive the final ball into the circle. Defending our opposition on this occasion was fairly straight forward, as they were particularly disorganized in the centre court and didn’t really create space, which made reading the game and making an interception fairly easy for you all. Our Shooters will know they didn’t have an amazing game, with many shots off target, however there was some lovely movement in the circle and some great feeds in. Keep up the good work girls!
Yateley Manor 9 Eagle House 11 As the other teams conceded to the weather, the Thirds were kept warm at Yateley Manor in their Sports Hall and to be honest enjoyed a very competitive and exciting match against their Senior Girls Team. Eagle House started the match very tentatively, passing the ball away thoughtlessly nine times in the first quarter and Yateley completed the first ten minutes deservedly four points to the good. Too often we signaled the pass, enabling the opposition to intercept with ease, and too often we waited for the ball to let the opposing player get ball side to regain possession. Our marking was variable, offering too much space to Yateley which they used with some fun-to-watch netball. A quiet word at the break from Mrs Nolan and an acceptance from the girls that there were things that they needed to address meant that the tide began to turn as the half time whistle approached. Maria and Louisa were much tighter in their marking in the mid-field and Ella was much more positive at the back. So Half time the score was 4-2 to Yateley. The introduction of Caitlyn as reserve and a reorganizing of our positions seemed to give all our players and soon Miriam and Caitlyn began to ease Eagle House into the lead. The centre and the defensive alignment appeared much more solid and soon we had a two point lead. Yateley fought well and kept going, but Eagle House kept their heads through to the end to perhaps just deserve the honours in what was a very enjoyable and well balanced match. Thank you, Yateley, for a great Game and especially the pizza......hmmmm.... Well done, girls, a good first outing and we will work hard to address all those points that Mrs Nolan kept on picking us up on. I wonder if we will be team of the week(well, that was what Ella asked!)
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