Three King’s Worcester Netball squads make Regional Finals

For only the second time ever, three King’s netball squads have made it through to the Regional Finals.

On Wednesday 9^th November, nine Lower Remove girls attended the Worcestershire County U14 Netball tournament, hosted by Bromsgrove School. They showed depth and versatility as a squad, working in numerous combinations across court. Dodderhill, Malvern College and Bewdley were drawn alongside King’s to compete in a round robin tournament which would determine the winner and runner up of Pool A. After a slow start adjusting to the courts and floodlights, the girls soon found their rhythm and won all three matches. Meeting RGS in the semi-final, the girls demonstrated some quality passages of play and worked hard to maintain their lead throughout the match, meaning they progressed through to the final against a polished Bromsgrove side. Determination and steely confidence saw the girls put up a great fight, narrowly losing 5-7. Miss Ormandy is excited to see consistently high numbers of girls attending U14 netball club on a Monday afterschool, helping each other improve and build towards the season ahead.

The U16 netball team continued their winning ways as they made it through to the Regional Finals on Thursday 17^th November. With wins over South Bromsgrove, Malvern St James and Haybridge, they met RGS in the semi-finals. After a slow start, the team stepped up a gear to secure a win by 7 goals to 5. In the final, a strong Bromsgrove side took the County title, with King’s as runners up. It was a great performance from the whole squad, who are now looking forward to the Regionals in January.

The U19 squad are always the last to attempt to get through to the Regional Finals and, with the success of the U14 and U16 having already qualified, the pressure was on. This, however, did not phase the squad and on Thursday the 24^th November all of the team members played their part. Having to play all teams, the players knew that it would be a tense afternoon and they would have to play well in all of their games. With convincing wins over South Bromsgrove, Hanley and Malvern, the team then faced Bromsgrove. They are always a tough opposition; the team were turning the ball but just struggled to get it through court and narrowly missed out on the win, losing 9-11. They knew they had to win the final match and went 4-1 ahead of RGS in the early stages. With only seven minutes per half, the team stayed composed and kept possession in the final minute, which meant that we were in a battle to see who would go through on goal average. With big scores posted in the early rounds, the squad had secured a goal average of 3.7, which made them runners-up, and therefore they claimed a place at the Regional Finals in January.

Director of Netball, Mrs McGinley said, “This is only the second time in King’s’ history that three teams have successfully made it through to the Regional Finals. Worcestershire County is always a difficult area from which to qualify, so this makes it even more of an achievement and one of which I am very proud. At King’s, Netball is a sport for all, with every year group having specific coaches who work with them, in order to prepare them for fixtures and competitions. I am very much looking forward to seeing all three squads at the Regional Finals on Sunday 22^nd January.”