Second in the Nationals

Saturday 12th March saw the Brambletye U12 team head back down to Roedean for the IAPS National Finals. Having qualified in 3rd place at the Regional Finals, the girls knew there was a mountain to climb but nothing could suppress their excitement. 

On arrival, the girls had time for a brief warm up before their first match and being thrown in so quickly meant they were not as focused and drew their first match which should have been a comfortable win. Nonetheless, the girls fought hard and went on to win all of their remaining pool matches beating the likes of Eagle House, Cranleigh (who won the Regionals) and Millfield. This put the girls through to the semi-finals as winners of their pool and they faced Godstone School. The girls showed great composure and played some outstanding netball to win by several goals and go through to the final where they faced Millfield once more. 

I think a combination of nerves and the overwhelming situation made the girls extremely anxious heading into this final game and, despite going 4-0 up on the first half, they allowed Millfield back into the game with some unforced errors and frustration with their play and unfortunately could not keep them at bay with the game finishing in a 7-6 defeat. The girls were naturally a little disappointed but overwhelmed by how well they had done and delighted with their success. The standard of netball that they displayed throughout the tournament was the best netball that I have seen from a team in my time at Brambletye. They are all fabulous girls and they have such bright futures ahead of them.

C Parker