For the second year running two netball teams, one combining Years 7/8 and the other Years 9/10, travelled to East Sussex to stay at the Windmill Hill PGL Centre. They competed in a two day tournament run by England Netball. In between matches players could go and take part in ‘queue and do’ activities including giant swing, climbing, archery and obstacle course.
There were far more schools at the event this year which made the netball element more competitive, and Normanhurst rose to the challenge. 14 schools took part in the Years 7/8 category, which was split into two leagues of seven teams. Our team performed well and qualified in 5th place. On the Sunday morning, teams played matches according to a seeding worked out from the Saturday results. Normanhurst won all their matches to hold their position by the end of all the matches.
In the Years 10/11 age group there were ten teams split into two leagues of five. Normanhurst performed really well as we had a mixed Years 9/10 team playing up in the Years 10/11 age group.
The team really developed their tactics over the weekend and came together as a unit, working for each other. Their most impressive performance was against The Duke of York Military School. This team won the whole tournament and Normanhurst took an early lead in their game but were not quite able to secure a win, narrowly losing 9-8.
Everyone came home thoroughly exhausted, staff included. However, it was an excellent trip and we are looking forward to next year already. A big thanks to Mrs Botha for travelling with the team and being an excellent help all weekend.
