“Due to Nicole and Axelle being sick, we (the B team) had to manage with only five players, (losing a Wing Defence and a Wing Attack) Riya, Caterina, Albane, Sasha and I. Eaton House took full advantage of this weakness, and despite Falkner House trying their best, and with Miss Underwood shouting out advice and encouragement, Eaton House managed to score three goals in the first quarter.

During the break, Miss Underwood spoke to us about our techniques. We had to stop crabbing, yelling for the ball when we were marked, start dodging and start finding more space, which there seemed to be a lack of during the first quarter. Also, we had to stop passing the ball into the shooting circle, as if Eaton House intercepted it, they could score easily as make the score of 3-0 much worse. In the second quarter, we played much better. We managed to intercept Eaton House’s ‘high balls’, and won the ball in most of the ‘snatches’. Also, lots of toss-ups happened, and we won roughly half, with Eaton House winning the other half. There were ‘wonderful’ passes in the middle third, and we prevented Eaton House from getting in any more goals, but sadly, despite having the rebound three times, and having the most ‘back-lines’ I have ever experienced, there was still no goal for Falkner House.

In the second break, we received praise from Miss Underwood, who said that we got the ball moving down the court much better and faster, even though Riya had injured herself and I had hurt my leg (not badly). She said that Caterina had done very well at intercepting the ball, and nearly got it in, but unfortunately she missed, and needed to work on her angle. In the third quarter, the ball kept going to and fro on the court. First it was Eaton House, and then it was Falkner, and then Eaton intercepted it with their annoyingly long arms. Then, Eaton managed to get into the shooting circle, and despite my and Caterina’s excellent attempts to get the ball, we suddenly found that Eaton’s Goal Shooter had the ball – and was right next to the netball post. Everyone held their breath. Eaton shot-and scored, making the score 4-0. And Falkner still hadn’t got a goal in! Miss Underwood said we were doing passes that were easy to intercept, and that it was good for Caterina to stay in the Shooting Third.

Seeing that we were downcast, (because of the score), she said that there was hope in the last quarter. “If Eaton House can score three goals in the first quarter, you’re better than them. You should be able to shoot four in the last quarter, if you try hard.” Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to get four goals in, but Caterina did some excellent dodging and Sasha found space, we did some excellent passes that got the ball moving down the court easily, with only a few interceptions and winning all of the snatches, and at the end, in the Shooting Circle, Caterina even scored a goal! It was a huge moment for us, but at that moment, the whistle went and before we knew it, the match was over. And Eaton had won, 4-1. At the end, when we did the three cheers for Eaton House, it turns out that, all in all, Eaton thought that Albane as Goal Defence was the best, and likewise we thought that their Centre was the beat. Despite having lost the match, I think that it was a great experience for us, and the single goal was our victory.” Penny