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CSSC London Beamers Netball Club |
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Welcome to the website of the London Beamers Netball Club |
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After being so kindly volunteered by Marcia, Clair and I are attempting to write our first netball report. The tournament was held on Saturday 23 June at Barnes Bridge, Chiswick and had been arranged by UNICEF. The directions given by Raslin were very easily understood except perhaps by herself arriving at 12.45 and not 10.00 as previously agreed. We have been told to stress this so that you understand how we were feeling at the start of the tournament with no bibs or balls! The majority of the team arrived by 10.15 but as the fixtures had now been given to us until on the day , we had later found out that we were not playing until 11.35 so we had lots of time to practice and get warmed up which we did, waiting anxiously for Raslin to arrive. The sun was shining and it looked to be a great day ahead to be enjoyed by all. Ok, so now let’s get onto the games, enough of giving poor Ras a hard time for her later arrival. The first game played was against ‘Wapping Wombles’, we of course with no bibs had to borrow some and luckily the other team had a ball!! We started nervously and with lots of bunching and making some bad passes. Ann made fantastic use of the circle putting up some great shoots. Although the second half was much better and as a team we played well and won the game 12-8. Our second game was a much harder task as we were playing ‘Crystal Palace 2’ and had from watching their first match we could see they were a team difficult to beat. As we were getting ready to go on we were still staring at the car park waiting Ras’ arrival but no such luck! (sorry I had to mention the fact that Ras was late again). Well, with no Ras we decided to go out and give it our best shot. Apart from swapping on one player the team pretty much stayed the same as our first game. We played a lot better in this game and had some good spells and fought hard. At half time we were drawing but unfortunately they pulled away from us in the second half and the final score was 12-7. It was a good effort from the whole team and although we lost we felt proud at the fight we had fought. As the whistle blew who should we see on the side line…..? Ras had finally arrived, a big cheer resounded by us all to welcome her at last! We had a break until 13.35 which was very lucky for us as the rain decided to come and boy did it come down!! I personally thought that they were going to suspend play but no such luck for the poor girls in the middle of playing their games. Our third game was against ‘Unicef’, which where the ladies that had arranged the tournament in aid of their friend that had died in an accident just before Xmas. They were a novice team so it was good for us all to mix things up a little and make half time substitutes. We won the game 14-1, all getting a little wet from the rain which had become a drizzle. Our last game of the group was ‘Lorikeets’, a very good and hard team to play. We talked and discussed the order of positions, again making a few changes. The game was very even with Clair and Marie making some good movements in the circle and Marcia and Ras making some good interceptions in the goal D. The game was very close right up until the last few minutes with them just beating us 9-6. Although we lost the game it was good for me as a spectator to watch from the sidelines such an exciting game.
Once all the games had been played, it was a matter of waiting to find out who would be playing who in the play offs We came third in our group so were matched up against the ‘Motley Crew’ who had also come third in their group. We played well but think we could have played better, think a whole day of netball in the rain had left us wet and lethargic. In resulted in this bring a very tight game with the final score being 10-10.
Overall we came fifth after taking goal difference into account. This was a very good result. The first four places were taken by (2nd) Crystal Palace 1 &Crystal Palace 2 (4th) and Lorikeets 1(1st) and 2 (3rd).
Comments: Dee - I really enjoyed by first outside tournament and am hoping I can attend more before I leave. Well done to all the team.
Clair – Think everyone played extremely well and it just goes to show if we all work together and put what we’ve learnt in to practice we can go far!
D Hanlon and C Taylor |
