What a journey it’s been. It started back when this group of girls were in Year 5, I knew we had a talented group and we attended the Year 5 Regional ISA competition, to give the girls the exposure to the how the tournament runs and where it is hosted, including the travelling and often over night stay. They came second, narrowly being beaten on goal difference.
From that point the girls have trained hard in both club time and lessons. As the girls entered Year 6 back in September, weekly netball club was vital and very popular, a huge number of girls attending seeing 30+ regularly at training. These sessions were key as we needed to hit the Spring Term running as Regional qualifiers were the third week back of term.
We headed to Southend-on-Sea on the 18th January with a definite goal of qualifying for Nationals. The first game of the day was make or break, we knew Finnborough could be our toughest competition of the day and only one of us could make Nationals as we had been drawn in the same pool. The girls played their socks off and came out vistorious. They went on to win all their matches and were crowned Regional Champions, an accolade that was a first for Copthill.
Then the road to Nationals began and I could quickly see that local Yr6 teams just weren’t going to challenge the girls in the way they needed. So I reached out to three local secondary schools and asked if we could play their Yr7 A teams and we were able to make fixtures with Oakham, Trent College, Stamford and Witham. Some superb close netball was enjoyed and each game was only lost by one or two goals and this was exactly the challenge the girls needed.
As I look ahead to the (now rescheduled) final, with real excitement. I know the girls will play with passion and desire and I will be extremely proud whatever the outcome. It’s only the second time Copthill have made a National Final and I really believe the girls have the ability to do exceptionally well. April 19th is the new date for the ISA National Finals, till then girls!
Mrs Gemma Alcoran, Head of Sport
