JCA Weekend Netball Tournament

The annual JCA Netball tournament, held at  Condover Hall, in Shropshire is a weekend tournament that combines a love of sports and netball with a range of other exciting activities. The Concord netballers have the opportunity to play 10 matches against other strong teams, which sets them up well for the school netball season ahead.

Day 1:

Glasgow Fury 12:0 Concord (Lexxy, Form 4)

This was our first match of the season, first match as a new and improved team. Even though we had not practiced as an official team we didn’t let it stop us from playing as best as we could. As half time approached the score was 6-0 to Glasgow, we were kind of sad at first, but we didn’t let it bring our confidence down even though we were playing against the team that was one point away from winning the whole tournament last year. By the end of the game, we were all worn out and the score was 12-0 to Glasgow Fury.

St Benedicts 11:3 Concord (Aoibh, Form 4)

It was a challenging game for Concord against St Benedicts, with many ups and downs, but ultimately a well fought match. There was lots of ball won in the defensive end, with lots of strong work through mid-court, and smart movement in the circle resulted in a well-earned goal. At half time, the score was 5-1. The second half was heavily impacted by the pouring rain which caused lots of lost ball, but we persevered and started to communicate more which led to two more goals from our shooters. St Benedicts came in strong with lots of pressure all over the court and turned over lots of ball and converted to it to goal. Over the course of the match, there was so much improvement from Concord and the end scoreline of 11-3 doesn’t reflect how well evenly matched the teams were.

Rednock 1:0 Concord (Amy, Form 4)

It was our third game of the day, and the team was starting to warm up to each other. The first half of the game was fast paced and both teams were working hard, ending with a score of 0-0 in the first half. Our attack was working hard to get the ball to the shooters, using good space and spreading out to move the ball towards the semi-circle. The strong defence allowed our team to gain possession and block the other team from scoring. In the second half however, the rain was starting to lower spirits. The ball was slippery, and our fingers were cold and stiff. Despite our efforts, Rednock scored a point. It was a very close match even if we didn’t win, it was still a great game that taught us how to work as a team and improve as a team.

Preston 6:2 Concord (Ellie, Form 4)

The tournament was our first time playing together and third game in- feeling much more like a team by this point- we were holding our own against the more experienced opposition. In the first half, the court started off quiet and we weren’t talking to each other but as the game began to warm up we started to communicate. Now talking, our play began to flow much more and even in the persisting rain we managed to get the ball smoothly up the court and score, ending the half 3-1 to Preston. Despite being two points down, we kept up our game with our defence working hard and getting lots of tips but- hands now cold and slippery from the rain- we had a couple loose balls and calls of contact round the court. We worked hard the rest of the game and kept up our energy and play so with more teamwork, communication and determination we manage to score another goal ending the quite consistent game in 6-2 to Preston.

Loreto 6:0 Concord (Blaise, Form 5)

This game was our last one of the first day (Saturday) and we had practiced a bit as a team, but we were still struggling on spacing and keeping the ball in the shooting D. We normally lost it at this point due to speeding up gameplay and passing badly. At half time the score was 4-0 and the score at the end of the game was 6-0. Overall, given this was our first proper day of playing as a team we did pretty well and gave the game our best. I think we generally enjoyed the match but there is room for improvement.

Day 2:

Red Dragon 4:2 Concord (Isabelle, Form 4)

It was the second day, so we were more used to playing as a team. In the first half, the defence played well and managed to intercept many balls. The ball quickly moved down the court and we had it in the goal third many times, but it was difficult to score due to the pouring rain. The shooters did manage to score 1 goal and by the end of the first half, the score was 2:1 to Red Dragon. By the second half, we were more tired, and the rain continued. We tried to communicate more, and we scored another goal. Red Dragon’s shooters were very good, and they scored another 2 goals despite the rain. Overall, we played well, and the match helped communication for our team.

St Benedicts 2:2 Concord (Ana, Form 4)

The second day we got more used to each other and our positions, we played St Benedicts the first day and lost 10-3 so we thought we might lose again, but we persevered. Getting better and better at our defence, by the first half we were 2:1 and we were winning all we had to do was defend. By the end we drew 2-2 which is a massive improvement if you ask me!

Rednock 0:1 Concord (Mavis, Form 5)

On the last match of day 2, our U16 team played against Rednock, the team we lost 0-1 to on the first day. Everyone gave it their all and we were determined to win. Despite the rain, we were able to intercept and pass swiftly across the court. From this, we managed to score our first goal of this match, ending with 1-0 during half time. The pressure was on to keep our lead as the defenders continued to prevent the opposition from shooting whilst the attackers persisted to bring the ball close to our third. Although there were no additional shots, our defenders were able to defend every pass and shot from our opposition, trying to bring it back to our shooting third. Our team began to connect as a whole with drastic improvements from our first match. We ended the game with 1-0, a perfect end to our tournament. All in all, the U16 team did fantastic and all played extremely well!

Great weekend together at the JCA Netball Tournament, despite the wet weather the girls maintained in high spirits. The tournament is attended by already established teams, not so much school teams, however it’s a brilliant opportunity for us to play 10 games over the weekend at the start of the season. The progress speaks for itself, the first day the girls played St Benedicts and lost 10-3. The second day they played them again and were able to draw 2 –2. Moreover, they played Rednock on the first day and lost 1-0, then second day then were able to beat them 1-0. Well done, this puts us in a great position to start playing school netball.

Mrs Robbins