Netball Tournament Week Wrap Up

After a very successful North Harbour Campaign, finishing 2nd in Open B (The best finish from a Glenfield College team in a long time), the girls set off to Tauranga for their Upper North Island Campaign.  UNISS is a grueling 5 day 10 game Netball Tournament that brings together 120 top Netballing schools to compete. Day 1, we had games against Rotorua Lakes which we won 41- 28 and a tough battle against Kings narrowly losing 24-27. On Day 2, the girls played Mt Maunganui Invitational and pushed through for the win 24-26 and won a vital game convincingly against Fairfield 35-22 that afternoon. This put the team in a good spot to finish 1 or 2 in their pool and therefore the top 8. To achieve this, one more hurdle needed to be completed on Day 3, a final win against Hobsonville. We had some sore bodies but pulled out a spectacular win 34-16. With the bonus point, the girls picked up against Mt Maunganui the girls finished 2nd in their pool and with that made the top 8! Finishing in the top 8 of a grade in this take no prisoner’s tournament is not an easy achievement and the girls took great pride in their achievement. From here, games get tougher and bodies get sorer. The first games of the top 8 were against some tough opposition in Dargaville and Gisborne Girls and despite the girls performing with grit on the court, the skill and speed of these two teams put the top 4 out of reach. We refocused as a team and set our sights for our next opponents Rototuna with the focus on keeping calm and making sure we had direct leads to the ball. After 40 minutes of play, the score was 29 all, with this, the girls scored enough points on goal difference count back to finish 3rd in this round 2 pool and set themselves up well to push for 5th spot. Day 5 saw a rematch between us and Kings College who we played on Day 1 and lost to by 2 after a physical 40 minutes. The girls in this connected well through court and made sure there were down court offers available. Unfortunately, again, we went down by 3 to a strong Kings team driven by their slick shooting circle. The final game of the tournament was against Melville. The girls had used up much of their energy over the preceding 4 and half days and dropped off the pace in the second half to lose. Overall, the girls finished 8th out of 24 teams in their grade. This is a valiant effort from our Netball Premiers and certainly a result of the hard work the girls have put in this season (6982 minutes, 115 hours or 5 full days’ worth of Netball to be exact). This team has remained bonded despite adversity and supported each other 100% throughout this season. Most importantly they have had a whole heap of fun doing it. All 11 of our players have poured their heart, sweat, tears, and blood into this Mt Maunganui court and have represented Glenfield College with Pride and Respect. A special mention to our Year 13 girls leaving us this year. (Courtney Kapi, Danielle Paul, Mikayla Robinson, Nicola Moody-Turnwald, Lia-lai Tra and Mariah Wharewaka-Topia). You have been a huge part of the schools’ netball drive for so long and have helped to put Glenfield College. You have courageously helped mentor our younger players throughout the season and your legacy lives on through them. While we have some departing, we have others ready to step into those key leadership roles and others that will step into Premier Netball for the first time. The team and Glenfield College Netball will be working tirelessly throughout Term 4 and Term 1 next year to ensure we take our school’s netball to even further heights than it was taken to this season.

Coach, Heather Palei