NETBALL
The U14s make the national finals as netball goes from strength to strength .
Netball has continued to grow this year with over 32 representative teams across the school who have taken part in over 200 competitive fixtures .
The U12s and U14s retained their county titles , and the U14s and U16s gained spots at regional finals in London and the south-east . The U16s showed tremendous resilience at their finals : despite missing several players they placed second , missing out on a spot at nationals by goal average . The U14s , however , secured a spot at the national finals where they finished fifth out of the top 18 schools in England . This is an amazing achievement considering over 1500 schools take part in the competition .
These results , combined with more girls than ever representing Kent and the performance franchises of London Pulse and Surrey Storm , show just how much the netball programme has grown .
Lauren Cripps
U14 NATIONAL FINALISTS
For the U14A squad it was an incredible season , from qualifying for the county finals in October , winning them in November , then finishing runners-up at regionals in January .
The team was then ready for nationals . We got off to an amazing start against Headington , winning 20-9 . We then unfortunately lost in a hard-fought match against Macclesfield 10-13 . Our next two matches against Bromsgrove and Dauntsey were convincing wins . A feisty match against St Albans ended in a loss ( 8-10 ) and our match against Silverdale ended in a draw despite a small lead for us to start . The team rallied , and our last two matches also finished with two wins including a tough final match which , after being five goals down at half time , we won by one !
The team were beyond proud and couldn ’ t believe it . However , due to our earlier draw we finished third in our pool , missing out on the semi-finals by goal difference . Despite this , we weren ’ t disappointed . We came fifth out of over 1500 schools , and we cannot wait for next season ! We are grateful for our coaches and the opportunity to play at such a high level .
Emily Hancock and Sienna Christopherson , Year 9
86 SPORT REVIEW