On Sunday July 2nd, a group of Year 9 and 10 girls (Myah Templeton-Gilchrist, Indie Thyne, Poppy Staniford and Jazmine Baikie), went to Christchurch to take part in the Junior South Island Secondary Schools Netball tournament, which ran from Monday to Wednesday the first week of the holidays. With some of our players in the Area Schools Tournament team, we created a mixed Twizel team, playing in the combined grade, with three students from The Catlins Area School and two students from Waiau Area School. The girls played so well considering they had never played as a team before, and it is hard to put together their different set plays and quickly gain an understanding of everyone else's strengths. 

Although the team didn't achieve the results they were hoping for, they learnt a lot about teamwork and communication. With seven games across the three days they were exhausted by the end of it and now have a better understanding of fitness, nutritional needs and the importance of rest when playing so many games with very little turnaround between them. There were also some amazing moments of netball, which showed their potential as a team and what could have been had they had more time to work together as a group before the tournament.

Ka pai to everyone involved, and thank you to Ms Saunders for taking on the role of Coach and 'Mum' for the week!