There was a very excited Year 7 Netball Squad that departed Andover on Wednesday 7th March to travel to Mountbatten School, Romsey to take part in the Test Valley SGO Level 3 Netball Competition. After a very close finish, Harrow Way won the competition to be put through to the Hampshire School Games Competition held later on this year.
This was the first time playing teams from outside the Andover District Schools Netball League, therefore Harrow Way did not know what was to be expected playing against teams from Romsey School and Mountbatten School.
There were 7 teams taking part in the competition and it was a round robin format; so each team played each other for two halves of 5 minutes. For Harrow Way it was vital, due to the short length of time, that as many shooting opportunities were capitalized on.
First up, Harrow Way’s opponents were John Hanson and having lost to them a few weeks ago in the Andover League, the team really wanted to make a better showing of themselves, which they did managing a 3 all result.
The next match was Mountbatten 2’s and Harrow Way settled quickly and won 4-0. The third match was against John Hanson 2’s and the team had a convincing win of 6-0. Emily Phillips-Strudwick and Morgan Richmond certainly had their eye in this match, with plenty of ball being supplied to them by Faith Holman at centre position and Daisy Fletcher at wing attack.
Next up were Romsey 2’s and this was a low scoring affair, with Harrow Way only scoring 2 but the Harrow Way defence, of Danni Gooden-Husbands and Keira Inman, stepped up and managed to keep a clean sheet. Straight after came Romsey first team and this was the poorest result and performance losing 3-1, although we squandered several chances at goal with some careless passing. However the team rallied against Mountbatten 1st team, an unknown quantity to us and Harrow Way pulled out a very determined effort to put aside their disappointment of the previous match winning convincingly 4-1. A real show of resilience and character by the team, especially by Kaitlyn Pedder, who had a great game.
At the final presentation 3 teams were tied for first place, Harrow Way, Romsey 1 and John Hanson. To much delight of the girls, Harrow Way came first place on goal difference, with Romsey 2nd and John Hanson 3rd.
Harrow Way will now go on to represent the Test Valley District at the Hampshire School Games on 22nd June. Miss Escritt was extremely proud of the behaviour, sportsmanship and sheer determination of the Year 7 girls, well done all.
Team: Lara Dale, Daisy Fletcher, Faith Holman, Grace Homer, Danni Gooden-Husbands, Keira Inman, Kaitlyn Pedder, Izzy Phillips, Megan Richmond (capt), Emily Phillips-Studwick.