Three teams reach finals at weekend PGL Netball Tournament
Three teams reach finals at weekend PGL Netball Tournament
Earlier this term, Ms Coles, Mrs Pickard, Mrs Woollard and Miss Lyn-Kew from the PE department took 36 netball players from Years 8 to 11 to PGL in Boreatton Park (near Shrewsbury) for a fun weekend of netball and adventure activities.
As well as a great opportunity for our students to compete against other schools, it helped them benefit from teambuilding as they bonded on and off the court.
Competing against over 40 schools from across the country, each year group participated in a tournament of six netball matches over two days with the chance of progressing to the semi-finals and finals.
It was an amazing weekend for all the students and especially the Year 8, Year 10 and Year 11 teams who all reached the finals of the competition and finished runners-up overall. This is an incredible achievement to have three teams reach the final.
Our Year 8 team were also awarded Umpire’s Team of the Tournament, which was in recognition of their outstanding behaviour and attitude towards the players and officials. Well done to all squad members!
The PE department said “We saw some outstanding play from all teams with successful set plays, strong defensive work, and exciting attacking play. We were particularly impressed with our shooters across all teams and their focus and success rate under highly pressured conditions. Thank you to all students for making us so proud of you, you made it a pleasure for the staff to be away for the weekend with you.”
The trip to PGL was not just about playing netball as our students took part in a variety of adventure activities such as the giant swing, zip line, archery, climbing, rifle shooting and abseiling. The highlight for many of the students was the ‘silent disco’ with hundreds of teenagers dancing (and singing) in the dark with glowing headphones.
Students also learnt about mental resilience and the benefits of stress on performance with an inspiring talk from sports psychologist, Dr Katy Sparks (who is also a former Bourne Academy student). Molly Barrett in Year 11 even participated in an experiment by shooting a ball into a goal using a hockey stick in front of a roaring audience to prove the effects of spectators on performance.
YEAR 8 TEAM
The team demonstrated outstanding team spirit by winning all six of their groups games and only conceded four goals. To reach the finals, they won their game 6-2 with impressive shooting from Poppy Green at GA and Zara Kelby at GS combined with excellent centre court play by Fleur Nelson. With great defensive work by Zara Wright at GK and great movement by Olivia Henderson and Sophie King at WA, they only narrowly lost the final 5-3. The future looks bright for this talented group of players.
- Congratulations to Poppy Green who was Coaches Player and Fleur Nelson who was the Players Player.
YEAR 9 TEAM
Every player in the team showed fantastic teamwork, attitude and commitment in all six of their matches over the two day tournament. The team played some extremely tight games with great shooting from Hettie Baker at GA and Chloe Matsell at GS, combined with brilliant centre court play from Ruby Nunziata and all-round excellent play by Zara Lawson.
- Congratulations to Zara Lawson who was Coaches Player and Hettie Baker who was the Players Player.
YEAR 10 TEAM
To reach the semi-finals, the team won, drew and lost games in a tightly contested group so were over the moon they had progressed. In the semi-finals, the team showed great resilience coming back from 3-1 at half time to winning their game 5-3. The final was a high-scoring game, which ended up 5-11 and we were runners-up. The whole team really flourished over the tournament and a highlight was Isabell Rowson’s ferocious defensive work winning the ball to give us plenty of attacking opportunities.
- Congratulations to Isabell Rowson who was Coaches Player and Sophie Fisher who was the Players Player.
YEAR 11 TEAM
Our players were involved in high-scoring games throughout the tournament as the pace and action in this year group intensified. We recorded five impressive wins of 14-5, 14-4, 13-8, 12-3 and 10-7 in the group stage to reach the semi-finals where we won 12-1 in another high-scoring game. In the final, they lost to the same team who beat them in the group stage but threw everything they had into the final and should be very proud.
- Congratulations to Felicity Wafaa who was Coaches Player and Evie Benson who was the Players Player.