Harrogate Phoenix Junior Netball Festival 2011

Sunday 8 May saw the inaugural Junior Netball Festival take place at Ashville Sports Centre in Harrogate. The weather was definitely blustery, but the rain stayed away on a fabulous netball morning. Over 60 children from Harrogate and Ripon, aged between 9 – 15, took part in this local netball festival. Two competitions took place – one for U11s and one for U14s and teams were chosen at random on the day.
 
There were 5 teams taking part in the U11s tournament, playing High Five netball. The players, including Jake Sharp (the only boy on the day) mixed in with each other for a warm up and practice session to begin with, and were then split into teams of 5. It was a close competition between the teams, but the “Jolly Jessies” were the eventual winners (the U11s had a Toy Story theme!).
 
6 teams were involved with the U14s competition. 3 different age groups (U12, U13, U14) were mixed together to form the teams, and the younger players really worked hard to keep up with the older ones. Although another close competition, the “Navy” team – captained by Jess Culleton - came up trumps, winning all of their games.
 
Along with prizes for the winning teams in both age groups, the organizers also gave prizes for the best “team spirit” – again this was quite a hard decision as all the girls showed good spirit and helpfulness – but in the end the “Slinkys” won for the U11s, and the “Gold” team won for the U14s.
 
Two players were chosen as ‘Players of the Festival’ in each age group – they showed ability in any position they played, excellent team work, and a great attitude throughout the morning. Congratulations go to Bryony Watson from Harrogate for the U11s, and Beth Tweddle from Ripon for the U14s.
 
A big thank you to all the organizers of the event – Jane Petts, Helen MacKenzie, Carole Fozard, Emma McAra, Jo-Anne Henry, Wendy Sharp and Debbie Reed – and also to the volunteers on the day – Claire and Tilly Rhodes, Milly Lonsbrough, Sophie Marriot (some of our U19 squad volunteers for the day), and not forgetting all the help from the parents.

A great day was had by all, and this will hopefully become an annual event.