Netball Victoria Association Championships – FINALS DAY
The EDFNL 13&Under netball team travelled down to the State Netball Centre in Parkville last Sunday to play the best representative teams from around the State.
Despite the results showing just one win for the day, the effort the girls showed throughout the whole tournament was brilliant for such young netballers.
The tournament had both winner and runners up from each of the six Netball Victoria zones (Eastern, Central East, Central West, Western, North, North East) in three divisions (13s, 15s, 17s) as well as an Open competition, Boys 17&Under plus All Abilities in a jam packed day at the 11 court indoor facility.
Round 1 against Lilydale Yarra Valley NA was a slow start for the team but after half time was even. Round 2 was similar against Bendigo Strathdale Netball Association with them getting the jump 9-3 by half time. It was 8-7 after the break going down by 7 goals.
A little pep talk got the girls fired up and despite trailing by 2 goals at half time had a great second half to beat Shepparton NA 12-11. Unfortunately, the wins stopped there. against semi-finalist Parkville going down by 7, in a similar story with an even second half of the game 6-6.
The match against Hampden FNL had plenty of opportunities to win but we just couldn’t cement the breaks going down by just two goals in a great competitive match. The final game of the day, Wimmera FNL were simply too good but with no rotations the girls who took the court were fantastic.
Nicola Fort and Ruby Bridger goaled for a majority of the day and did a great job finishing off the work of their teammates – two very familiar surnames in EDFNL circles with a lot of netball in front of them.
The mid courters of Ava Pask, Claire Finger, Miley Warde, Keelie Carbonneau and Matila Percy were all great throughout the day rotating through positions. They connected extremely well from defence into attack and fed the goalers plenty of ball.
The defenders of Charlotte Kemp, Jenna McDonald and Aisley Logan did a fantastic job all day, up against taller goalers on many occasions. They worked extremely well together no matter who was in circle defence and will trouble many goalers for years to come.
Coach Megan Ferguson and Assistant Coach Karina Marcuccui did a stellar job to rotate the players through positions, keeping them competitive against much bigger associations and football netball leagues.
Massive thank you to all the parents and family and friends who came to Parkville on Sunday as well as all the training sessions, that have been going since Round 1 this year. A huge effort to get to this level which shows via the final ladder positions we were 11th on the day and in the State!
Final shout out to the League for supporting the Netball pathway and ensuring our netballers get this opportunity to play in these tournaments and hopefully progress via the Talent Identification process and put our league on the map when they become future Vixens or maybe Diamonds!
RESULTS
Rd 1 Lost Lilydale & Yarra Valley NA 8-13
Rd 2 Lost Bendigo Strathdale NA 10-17
Rd 3 Won Shepparton NA 12-11
Rd 4 Lost Parkville 10-17
Rd 5 Lost Hampden FNL 10-12
Finals Lost Wimmera FNL 6-15
