ISAZ U13's Girls Netball

Musa and Mwata defending

The girls had been waiting all term for this event so it was a great disappointment to arrive and find only one other school to play against, Lechwe who were hosting, and no referee! Nevertheless we made the best of it by making a four quarter game of 7 minutes. Nsansa had also brought 3 girls so Lechwe formed a second team with them using their extra players.

Natalie and Mwayi shooting

Amano set to playing Lechwe A with Mr Grove and Mrs Roos as referees! It wasn't easy as three of the girls in Lechwe's team were from the U19 squad! Not that they were over age but far more experienced and all of their team players were tall. Mwayi did a great job in defence along with Musa, Michaela and Keysha. Mwata found the game challenging as she accidentally gave away lots of free passes but it was all good learning. Netball is quick but it must be played cleanly! Whilst Lechwe scored quite freely at first, getting 6 in the first quarter, we were struggling to get the ball to our shooter, Natalie, and goal attack Caitlin. Their big defenders meant that we only had a few shots in the whole game.

Musa, Keysha, Mwata and Mwaya working hard in defence

 Coach was hoping at half time for some changes but Lechwe were out to win. We made changes and did better. The girls had a good attitude and didn't give up. We persisted and at last Mwayi, now playing as goal attack was able to score. Stacey, Mwaya and Kunda as captain worked hard in their central positions. The game finished with a scoreline of 12 - 2 due to a much better performance in the second half. It was good for the girls to get a game at a higher intensity as training times are shared with gr 4-5!


 Our second game was against Nsansa's 3 girls and Lechwe's 4 subs. This was physically, much more even a contest, if not a little bit the other way! Amano scored 6 to Lechwe/Nsansa's 0. The Nsansa girls were learning the game and so were weaker but Amano girls worked hard too. Stacey did well in centre getting the ball up court much more successfully. Natalie took over in the second half so it was all change at the top with Mwayi and Caitlin and Mwaya in attack.
 Mr Grove changed the position of the girls quite a bit so that they could experience different playing responsibilities. Moving on the catch, general marking and playing to our strengths were all areas of the game that showed up as needing much more practice. The final passes into the circle were often weak and lacking in imagination, so they became predictable.
 They did very well and a made a good day out of a disappointing start.
Well done team.

Report by Mr Grove