The California Netball Association hosted its fourth annual netball tournament in Del Mar, San Diego on May 15th. Local favorites, the Santa Monica Waves, submitted two teams in the Championship (Waves 1 and Waves 2).
The Waves competed against teams from three other clubs for the Championship trophy: the San Francisco Southern Stars, the Thousand Oaks Comets, and tournament hosts San Diego United.
The level of play was extremely high, with all clubs fielding strong teams. The noticeable increase in skill level from the previous year's tournament was a tribute to the hard work and training put in by the clubs during the year.
The fact that the San Francisco Stars were able to field a team after some last minute player withdrawals was particularly impressive.
The day was long and hot – starting with a goal shooting competition at 9:00 a.m. and finishing with the Grand Final at around 4:00 p.m. All games were fiercely competitive, with close final scores.
In the end, the day belonged to the Santa Monica Waves. Both Waves teams beat out the competition to play each other in the Grand Final. The final score was 20-16 in favor of the Waves 1 team. “I’m very happy to be taking the trophies back to Santa Monica”, said Maxine Lewis, the President of the Santa Monica Waves. “We’ve trained really hard for this and it’s nice to be rewarded”.
The Santa Monica Waves are hoping to repeat their victory at the US National Netball Championships being held in Coral Springs, Florida in mid June. The club is submitting two teams for the Nationals and they expect to hold their own against the clubs from the East Coast and Central Region.
California netball has been alive for a number of years. Almost all of the California netballers are Commonwealth expats, coming from Britain, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Fiji, Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago. The players have attracted attention from the locals and Americans are showing interest in the sport. The United States has a National Netball Squad, which placed a very respectable ninth out of 65 nations in the World Netball Championships last year in Jamaica.
All of the clubs are keen to recruit players, regardless of how long it's been since they've played, or whether they've even played at all. "People worry that they haven't played since they were in school," said Maxine Lewis. "But that's the same for almost all of us, and we've all picked it up straight away. It's great to get back on the court and run around.”
For more pictures, click on the Photo Gallery link!
Santa Monica Waves Netball Club places first and second at California Championship!
The Waves took 2 teams to the US Nationals in Florida this year, and are thrilled to have placed 3rd!
We left for Florida on Thursday the 10th, andt he trip had an interesting start, when the plane that had most of the Waves on it (and most of the Comets & San Diego girls as well!), made an emergency landing in Little Rock, Arkansas. Evidently there was smoke in the cabin, so the captain thought better safe than sorry. So after a lengthy delay (9 hours) in the coldest airport in the world (and with very little sleep, despite attempts to nab a few hours on the floor by some), we headed off to Florida, 12 hours late, and via Atlanta, Georgia. We were thankful we had only planned some sight-seeing and sitting by the pool on Friday, and didn't have any games until Saturday morning.
Early start Saturday morning, especially with the time difference and the fact that we hardly slept the night before. We had an inspirational team talk by Jo,(in our matching "No ripples, Only Waves" T-shirts) and then we headed off to the gym which was about 2 miles away.
The competition was divided into 2 groups, Waves 1 and 2 were in separate groups and you got to play every team in your group.
We made some friends and some enemies on Saturday, The Sharecroppers from New York weren't thrilled with us when we kept on playing when their GD went down injured but we were told there was no injury time, and we wanted to have the advantage over them as it was a close game and their GS was 6'3" and impossible to defend. Anyway then their umpire got her own back by being completely biased and wasting 3 minutes of our game when she umpired.
The best part of the day was when we were all just mucking around and having our photos taken when the announcer called Waves 1 out to play in the semi-final. Get your trainers back on! It was a complete suprise to everyone but we'd got thru to the finals on goal difference!
The level of play was very high and most teams played a different style of netball to what we're used to, The Florida Tropical Nets won the competition and Boston came 2nd. These 2 teams were outstanding, I have to say.
We lost to Boston in the semis but then played the Florida Challengers for 3rd and 4th place. We were all cheering on the sidelines, (even San Diego and the Comets were cheering for us), it was a very exciting and very close game, and we won by 2 goals.
Thanks everyone for a fantastic weekend and for playing your hearts out, hope to see more of us there next year!
US National Championships
CNA Anniversary Tournament in San Francisco
On Saturday, September 18th, the Waves fielded a team in the 4th Anniversary CAN tournament held on the new netball court on the cold and windy Treasure Island, San Francisco.
The first game was between the Southern Stars 1 and the Waves. It was a closely fought game with the Southern Stars coming out on top (a pattern that was to repeat itself throughout the day). The Waves then went onto play 3 more games in which they beat the Comets and Southern Stars 2 and drew with United. Coming second to Southern Stars 1 in the preliminary rounds, the Waves went on to play against United again in the semi-final, this time securing a solid win to advance to the final against the unbeaten Southern Stars 1.
The final ended up being somewhat one-sided, and the dominant team on the day (Southern Stars 1) won somewhat easily. Without exception, all the Waves played extremely well. Special mention should be given to Jodie who got interception after interception while playing WD. In addition, La Verne’s contribution to an almost impenetrable wall of defense in the goal circle saw her being named as MVP for the day. Congratulations to all who played!
Here's the team list:
GS/GA Maxine
GA/GS/GK Netty
WA/WD Sharon
WA/WD Jodie
C/WD Chrissy
WD/GD/C Carey
GD Pania
GK/GS LaVerne (MVP) !!!
International Netball Day - Hermosa Beach, March 12 2005
Flags were a-sailing , anthems scoring high notes. The first of many International Netball Days for California took place with an all round international Olympic feel last Saturday in Hermosa Beach.
The hustle and bustle of officials, volunteers and teams as prestigious as New Zealand, England, Trinidad and Tobago arriving created a frenzy with supporters and locals in the area.
After the assigning of team captains and the tournament pooling cards and some encouraging words from the President (Maxine Lewis, Santa Monica Waves), the games were opened with the sound of the whistle.
The Californian Netball Association is renowned for having a variety of cultures making up each club. The International day splits all members up into their place of birth. They play all day representing their Country, an honor at any level.
Netball at its best was on show for all to see. Good spirits, good sports and competitive games all day. Commonwealth pipped the England team for 3rd in the final; South Africa took the 1st trophy from Australia’s hands in the Grand Final. Both close tough games with the cheering crowd being heard for miles.
Next years tournament is already being planned. It is open to all Countries of all levels. Look out for enrollment forms next January 2005. I know I’ll be there.
1st Place. South Africa MVP Antoinette (Waves)
2nd Place. Australia MVP Jodi (United)
3rd Place Britain MVP Sharon (United)
4th Place Commonwealth Girls MVP Ava (Waves)
5th PLace England MVP Nikki (Comets) / New Zealand MVP Laverne (Waves)
Report by Jo O’Key
California State Championships - San Diego, May 21 2005
“Standard of play” has just been redefined in California.
San Diego held the annual State Championships in May. As per usual, the event was floorless with all runnings by Alison (San Diego President) and her executive. Time keeping, venue, food, and scoring efficiency were at a high.
Un-like past events with the “same old faces”, there were many new talented players in all clubs, raising the bar for the whole tournament. Our very own Avril made an appearance at competition level. At only 15 years old she has come on in leaps and gangly legged bounds. Definitely one to watch for the future.
San Francisco Southern Stars beat Waves 1 team. They were soon shut down by Waves 2 in a magnificent game.
Thousand Oaks Comets were all over Waves 2. Therefore, Waves 1 team repaid their debt to Waves 2 by kicking some Comet booty.
San Diego held their own as usual. New recruit Karen (Ex- Comet) in the defense end, made it hard to penetrate the goal circle.
The day’s title ended up in the hands of Waves 1. Jo O’Key (me) and Maria received the honor of MVP’s for Waves 1 & 2.
It was very clear that all Clubs are training very hard for the National Championships this year in Florida.
See you all there,
Reporting Jo O’Key
Festival of Netball 2005
The world of netball was in Florida in July where the Under 21 world championships were held. The title was eventually won by New Zealand. They took the championships by the horns and played to win from the first whistle. A newbie to the top 3 was England coming second, with a very strong defence end. 3rd place to the Australians.
Alongside this youth championships extravaganza was another adult tournament, the "Festival of Netball". This 4 day event was also full of international teams and players. And what a great level of play was seen by all. The athleticism and height of some of these players was amazing. Each team was presented with match balls for their participation.
Caricom, a Florida based team, won the open event (All participating teams are included). Waves 2 were in for a medal until scoring and management took over with some last minute changes to draws, taking Waves 2 out of the medal position. They played amazingly and deserved nothing less than a medal. Playing with representatives such as ex Fiji national players and ex Hong Kong national players. Waves 2 proved to be up there with the greats this weekend.
Waves 1 won the National event (only national teams to qualify), which was later stripped from them after presentation. There was a question about authenticity of team members. Waves 1 played with all registered players. Therefore, this was an incorrect statement. Next year is only around the corner. We'll be there with paperwork in hand!
The world championships were fabulous, BUT they did not have to play outdoors in 105 degree heat for 4 days. The Festival of Netball was held outdoors in Florida in the middle of summer. All the girls had to dig deep to stay on top under there conditions.
It was a competition against the USANA MTO rather than the teams who travelled from all over the world. The first 2 days started late, venue changes, scores were altered, abysmal umpiring and game times were changed along the way. It was proved that some people should not be left in control of events! The last 2 days of the tournament were thankfully lifted by the efforts of FNA (Florida Netball Association) MTO. She had perfect time keeping, had umpiring monitored at all times, and brought smiles back onto the sun burnt faces of netballers again.
Waves 1 & Waves 2 came home to a tickertape parade and medal presentation of their own. Sonya Ottaway won MVP for Waves 1, Daphne won MVP for Waves 2 and Carey Dunn walked away with Player of the year.
Reporting Jo O'Key
Australian Festival
September 9-11, 2005 Nashville, TN
“Outrageous!” “Fast Paced!” “Non STOP!” Are just a few ways to describe the Australian Festival this year in Nashville.
The amazing teams that showed to participate in the Australian Festival Netball Cup were; Nashville Kangaroos - Host Club, Santa Monica Waves Netball Club, Manhattan International Netball Club, New York Navigators Men's Netball Club, Nashville Galas Men's Netball Club, Atlanta, AGAPE and Atlanta, GEMS.
With an 8.30am start there were teams turning up at around 7.45am to warm up and register. Everyone looking around at the opposition and sussing out the situation. Saying hello to old friends, meeting new ones and team huddles all around the grounds with last minute coaches notes.
Santa Monica Waves started the day off with a win over the always involved travelling MINC team. Followed by a game, for all to see, the eventual winners of the competition. The New York Navigators…sigh. Nadia Comaneci comes to mind. These men turned up in Fabulous purple uniforms and each played like the super hero, The Phantom. They were EVERYWHERE!!! Fast, clean, agile and acrobatic, with ball skills to match their 3 foot vertical leaps. They deserved the trophy and admiration by all.
The tournament ran smoothly all day. On time, well umpired, and happy faces at all point of contact with the host club the Lady Roos. Hats off to Moreen, Taryn and Nicole for a fabulous tournament. And we’ll be there next year to challenge that cup.
Sunday had more netball in store for us. The lady Roos had arranged pick up games through out the day. The first game started with some youngsters, ranging from 7 up to 15 years of age. (They were the only ones able to get up early on the Sunday I think.) Then the open age started to rock up, and suit up. We played for 3 hours straight, in 93 degree heat and LOVED IT! All teams were mixed up, and it really brought a fun exciting vibe to the Festival, as all players got to play against their home team players and also got to play with yesterdays opposition.
Throughout our 2 days, the Australian Festival had entertainment GALORE for us. Concerts all day, every day. Fosters Beer and Hardys wines flowing non stop. Pies, Sausage Rolls, Mello Yellow, Passiona, Home choccies, clothing and knick knacks.
All this was held over the 4 year anniversary of the world’s huge shock of September 11 2001. It was amazing seeing everyone come together and respect our merging cultures. American and Australian anthems were sung, everyone remembered and looked forward to the future together.
Reporting Jo O’Key
THE C.N.A. ANNIVERSARY TOURNAMENT
Champions! Victors! Winners! Hero’s! Numero Uno! Vanquisher! Defeater! All sound great, and all are correct.
The Los Angeles Waves Netball Club held this year’s Californian Netball Championships at Marine Park, Santa Monica on the 17th September. Teams from San Francisco and Thousand Oaks came to play for the title.
Team banners flying, the smell of baked goods wafting over the park and girls in skirts warming up is enough to bring crowds to the desert! That’s exactly what happened. 2005 had the largest crowd ever for the CNA tournament, and they surely got their moneys worth (although it was free entry). There were 3 huge raffle prizes that were definitely worth fighting over.
The Thousand Oaks Comets brought a second team for the event. Quite the dark horse team, with loads of potential for the future of the CNA. Santa Monica also had their 2 teams arrive full of gusto, Waves Rip Tide and Waves Tidal. Always a pleasure to watch these 2 teams play. The timing of Ballerinas and flight of eagles.
In the lunch break, was a men’s competition where the Santa Monica Waves, Long Boards Men’s team defeated the Valley Jumpers. Shane Clarke and Ivan Butcher had just arrived home from a tournament in Nashville and really carried the team to a 12-6 win.
Santa Monica Waves Rip Tide took the 2005 Californian championships title with an 11 goal lead. They were undefeated all day and deserved it. They had close competition from their Waves tidal team that is always at their heels and often very close to taking any chance away from Rip Tide. Next year might just be their year.
Ava Phillips won MVP – Best and fairest for Rip Tide and Carmina (soon to be) Clarke won for Tidal.
Congratulations to all and we’ll see you at the Country of Origin in November 2005 for a battle of the Countries.
Reporting Jo O’Key
All the bells and whistles were pulled out for November International day. 7.30am 12th Nov. the buzz started around Thousand oaks Neighborhood Park. Event co-coordinators and officials scattering with last minute preparations for the day.
Crowds started to arrive in droves around 8.15am for pre-game registration. So far, all seemed very normal and pleasant. Underneath this entire hustle bustle, were the arriving teams sizing each other up before game time.
Australia’s two teams arrived in force and started a focused warm up. New Zealand burst in with a power punch uniform that took the days teams by storm. Matching tattoos to boot.
Britain, Pacific Islanders and the Commonwealth all had their poker faces on. Then the DEFENDING champions, South Africa made their entrance. They came with one thing in mind, it was clear, and there strength and unity sent chills up your spine.
GAME TIME!!!
Commonwealth was making great strides towards victory when they lost Ava Phillips to a Knee blow out. Later in the day the same team lost another player Roselyn to the same injury and later had the curse follow after nearly every team member, Karen to the head, Avril to the ankle. It was clearly not their day for 1st place.
South Africa v Australia began and the memories of the last International day’s grand final came flooding back. SA lead for half of the game by 6 points. AUS came back for a goal to goal 10 minutes then Carmina turned the attitude of the game around with a well time toss-up win. Giving the AUS team the bounce they needed to take the game win by 4. Clean and sportsman like were both teams, off the court being great friends helps for a tight, skilled game.
No sooner had that game finished when New Zealand and England took the court for another nail biting match that ended in a NZ win. Laverne Patane made her presence known down the defense end. Shooters finishing the ball nicely even after Lee’s terrible hand injury.
MEN HIT THE COURT!!!
Yes, the lunch time mixed game began to charge when the two teams of strapping fine young men took the court for play. Shane, Ivan and Greg drove the ball down the court with strength and fury. Parker, a new defense, did not look out of place on his debut to the tournament. It was a win win game for all the female spectators.
MEDAL TIME!!!
After an afternoon of teams driving towards success, the Australian teams both triumph with an equal 1st position title. Coming in very close were Pacific islanders 2nd and Commonwealth 3rd. Amazing games tying up the final scores to produce some mouth watering netball.
MVP’s and Trophy ceremony were glorious when the World teams came together for laughter and cocktails at a near by venue for the sit down black tie dinner.
MVP's for the day were:
England - Stella San Francisco Stars
Britain - Natalie San Francisco Stars
New Zealand - Leigh Waves
Commonwealth - Andrea Vegas
Pacific islanders - Sailau Vegas
Australia - Kelly Vegas
Australia - Moreen Nashville Kangaroos
South Africa - Kim r.
Unanimously the teams all showed their appreciation to event co-coordinators and all look forward to the next International Day. We’ll keep you posted….
Reporting Jo O’Key
Love in LaLa Land Tournament - Santa Monica, February 11 & 12, 2006
It all started at the Australian Festival netball tournament in Nashville, September of 2005 when the brilliant idea was voiced – “Let’s invite teams from all over the country to Santa Monica to play – and let’s do it around Valentine’s Day, we’ll call it the “Love in Lalaland Tournament””. Who would have known that Jo O’Key would take that idea and fly with it? Well in retrospect we all should have known. What an astounding success. Six teams traveling to LA from as far away as New York and Virgina, and 4 – yes you read right, 4 Waves teams – a record! This was the biggest netball tournament the west coast has ever seen and it promises to be even bigger and better next year!
The participating teams were as follows:
The Navigators – New York (Mens)
Manhattan International Netball Club – New York (Womens)
NOVA Reds- Virgina (Womens)
The Kangaroos – Nashville (Mixed)
The Southern Stars – San Francisco Bay Area (Mixed)
The Bee Attitudes – Las Vegas (Womens)
Riptide – Waves (Womens)
Tidal – Waves (Womens)
The Breakers – Waves (Womens)
The Longboards – Waves (Mixed)
Teams started to arrive around 8am, to witness the handy-work of a well organized crew who had been setting up since 6am that morning. Everything looked fantastic – food and drinks stands, a sausage sizzle, a chiropractor, and a pink court (did Jodie buy the paint?). As the day progressed lots of people joined the sidelines and a beautiful sunny Southern California day emerged - much to the delight of those who came from the east coast missing one of the worst blizzards in history.
The day was filled with fantastic netball, great umpiring, and universal enthusiasm for the game. Highlights of the day included the acrobatic stunts of the ever-impressive Navigators (if only we could all jump like them), the Longboards winning against the seasoned and often unbeatable Riptide team, and a complete absence of injuries! Special kudos goes to the Breakers, a hastily put together team of social players who played with such spirit and gusto.
The overall tournament winners were the Navigators, with MINC taking the Women’s division, and the Bee Attitudes coming in second. Mandy Street of NOVA Reds won the best female player, our own Shane Clark won best male player, and Riptide won the most disciplined team! A big thanks to all those who made it such a wonderful day, especially the Waves Committee whose members devoted so much of their time to organizing the tournament and who are all still recovering! We can’t wait for next year, for all the teams who participated this year to return, and for more teams to join in the lalaland fun!
Chrissy Campbell, sidelined with a broken wrist, reporting.
Breakers (photo by Highlight Photos)
Longboards (photo by Highlight Photos)
Tidal (photo by Highlight Photos)
Rip Tide (photo by Highlight Photos)
The day started out with the old rivals Riptide and Comets 1 taking each other on. Slight panic ensued as Riptide was one player short for the first game, but Rhonda stepped in and played like she was meant to be there all along. You should have seen the Lelo ladies working together – Rhonda as WA, Tash as GA and Tori as GS, it was a beautiful sight! After a very closely fought match, Riptide came away with a win. Tidal’s first game against Comets 2 resulted in the Tidal girls coming away with a convincing victory. The rest of the day provided fantastic netball, exciting rivalries – and no major injuries (although Amy did come away with a black eye).
Riptide won all but one of their games – they drew with an ever-determined San Diego team (who we should mention were sporting a new and much improved uniform). Tidal drew with the Southern Stars, lost to San Diego, Comets 1 and Riptide (although they gave the latter a run for their money, the final score being 6-5 to riptide). Third and fourth places were fought over by the Southern Stars and San Diego United, the latter coming away with the win. The final match, between Riptide and Comets 1 was a nail biting, heart pounding game, that had both sidelines hiding their faces, screaming, yelling, and generally grateful none of us had heart conditions. Riptide finally came away with a win (by one point – phew).
La Verne proved her worth all day as GK for Tidal, making the shooters work hard for their goals and she was rewarded, by being named Tidal MVP. Special mention should also be given to Avril who played like a superstar and showed us all how exciting her future in netball is. But the real star of the day was our Tori, who at 11 years old put us all to shame. Her energy, ball handling skills and knowledge of the game, impressed everyone and she was rewarded, by being named the Riptide MVP. Another fantastic day for the Waves, bring on San Francisco in July!
San Diego Tournament - May
The RipTide trip to Calgary started EARLY on Friday morning. Most of the group were landing around lunch time at Calgary airport, so we arranged to meet and go on a road trip. We picked up a mini van at Avis and headed west on highway 1 into the Canadian Rockies. Even in late April, there was snow on the ground and it was chilly. We were in coats, hats and gloves just sitting in the car! Tori hooked us up with some tunes on her iPod and we were on our way to Banff.
The countryside around Calgary was flat and stark. Not a lot of trees and plenty of grass yellowed by the winter. You can imagine it being real cowboy country in the summer. On the way out of town we saw two huge ski jumps that were used during the Calgary Winter Olympics. We were all madly taking photos of them as we drove by the minivan.
The road to Banff is more scenic than the roads around Calgary. The snow was deeper, there lots of pine trees dusted with snow, iced over lakes with swans on them and spectacular snow covered mountains. It felt like we were in a winter wonderland. After 90 minutes in the car, we arrived in Banff. Banff is a pretty little town right at the base of Mt Sulphur. We drove through town to catch the gondola ride up the side of Mt Sulphur to take in the views over the town and the surrounding mountains and glaciers. There were a few jitters because not everyone was comfortable with heights, but we all made it in one piece up to the top of the mountain. At the summit, there was a viewing platform, restaurant and requisite gift shop. We took some quick photos from the platform, then raced into the gift shop to get out of the cold. We picked up some keepsakes, then jumped back in the gondola and went down the mountain back to Banff.
We walked around town for a little while, then found a restaurant where we could grab an early dinner. After a bit of a search, we found what we wanted at the Rose and Crown, a local pub. After a filling meal of lamb burgers, steaks and salmon, we jumped back in the minivan and headed back to town. It was during this time that we got the bad news that Natacha had a car accident on the way to LAX and she had missed her flight. Thankfully she was OK. After some quick thinking and decisiveness from the Waves, we were able to get her on another flight to Calgary through Vancouver. Hurray - we would have our shooter after all. All was right with the world. We headed back to the hotel, checked in, did some shopping for supplies at a nearby Walmart and settled in for the night. Saturday was going to be a BIG day and we all needed to rest.
The next morning Liz Daubney from Calgary met us in the lobby of the hotel. Along with arranging for our hotel rooms, Liz had graciously arranged to take Annalise and baby George to and from the courts. Liz had also arranged a baby sitter for Annalise so she wouldn't need to worry about George while we were playing. Liz also escorted us to the courts so we wouldn't get lost and had given us some recommendations for dinner in the evening. Liz and the Alberta Netball Association were consumate hosts and we were very grateful to be receiving their kind and generous hospitality.
The courts were located at the Southland Leisure Centre, which was a 10 minute drive from the hotel. The leisure centre was huge. It included an aquatic centre, ice hockey rink, gym and several multipurpose courts that were being used for everything from badminton, to majorette training to netball. It was great to see so many men, women and especially kids exercising and having fun. All our games on Saturday were played on the one netball court. There were lots of markings on the court, so it was a little difficult to tell at first which lines were for netball. The lines also went right up to the side of the walls of the building, which made it difficult to run out of court to take loose balls. In any case, we had a proper sized court and we were focused on the games ahead.
At the beginning of each game, we exchanged gifts with the Alberta team. Then we got on court and played hard, fast netball. The Alberta teams were extremely competitive and they stuck to us like glue. There was absolutely no room for error. We needed to be at the top of our game to win. We also needed to adjust to the court, the warm dry air in the leisure center and the altitude (3000 feet). We were so breathless at times you couldn't even call "left", "right", "left" in the circle. How Simone played center all day with a head cold, was just amazing.
The first game was against the U18s. They were a great team with plenty of speed and some height in the circle. There was plenty of hustle in the midcourt, strong rebounding in defence and their shooters gave our defence a run for their money in the circle. In the first game we soon learned that every ball would be contested, that there would be pushing off and we shouldn't expect to get any obvious umpiring calls. In that first game we needed to toughen up. The first couple of quarters were tight, then the score starting moving in our favour as we got our mojo on during the game. We won the game 46-30. Thank goodness we had this game to warm up before playing the Alberta Rep team.
The second and most important game was against the Alberta Rep team. Again we exchanged gifts. The Alberta team also came with plates of sandwiches, bags of fruit and bottles of water for us. Very kind and thoughtful gestures which seemed contradictory when we got on the court. It was clear they wanted to kick our butts. The feeling was mutual. We hadn't come all this way to lose.
The game was tight. We were going goal for goal. Simone drove the ball hard and fast down the court. Tori took hard passes at full stretch in wing attack and was still able to effectively set up the feed into the circle. Sonya, aka Twinkle Toes, broke away from her defence all day and put up some great shots right when we needed them. Despite three hours of sleep, Natacha was the anchor in the circle, taking strong rebounds and sinking shots from all around the circle. We had our work cut out in defence too. Jo was dynamite in the circle and the midcourt, taking rebounds, tips, intercepts and helping to drive the ball down the court. Annalise was also fabulous, tipping away goal attempts, getting rebounds and clearing the ball out. Louisa didn't let the midcourters out of her sight, making full stretch tips out of court, backing up Annalise and Jo and working well with Simone to get the ball down court. I had a couple of proud moments too, with a couple of intercepts and loose ball pickups. It was great to hear Coach Rhonda cheering us on at the sideline. Her words of encouragement and direction were inspirational. They helped to keep us calm and focused, especially when things weren't going our way.
Despite all our hard work, there were mistakes and it was a very physical game. We were delaying our passes, waiting until someone was free until we released the ball which meant that the flow of our game was a little off at times. There were some stepping calls when we were really flying down the court. Some of these were real and others were imagined. We looked for contact and obstruction calls that would never come. Annalise got pulled for obstruction the moment she leant forward. Simone got a bloody lip from being smacked in the face. Jo redefined the word "headbutt" when she collided with another player's back and got whiplash and a bloody nose at the same time (she doesn't do things by halves). We all got a bit slapped around, but if anything it made us more determined. And we gave a bit back too. It was a tightly contested match.
Alberta came out on top at the end. They had the luxury of being able to switch out players during the game so there were fresh legs at all times on the court. We had 8 players which were rotated, but it was essentially the same players from the first game. The game was pretty much even until the 3rd quarter, then they started getting away from us in the final quarter. The final score was Alberta winning 32 to 24. They deserved the win. We came close but we just couldn't pull it off. Kudos to Alberta for fielding such a fit, strong, fabulous team. Can't wait to see you in September :-).
The second game took a lot out of us, so we decided the third game would be a bit of fun. We weren't going to throw it away, but we were definately going to play our game. What a difference. All thoughts of tired limbs and aching feet were put on hold for this final hour. We played the U23 team, which was an amalgam of players from the Rep and U18 team. It was another hard match, but we lifted our game and just played the way we usually do. There was no hesitation in the passes. We just threw the ball into the space and trusted that our girls would be there. They were. We ended up winning this game quite convincingly at 47 to 29. It would have been nice if this was the result of the second game, but unfortunately it was not to be.
So we won the two games that didn't matter and lost the one that did matter. Oh well. It wasn't for lack of trying. We played our hearts out. It would have been great if the results were different, but I think we were satisfied that we did all we could. There were mistakes, but there were plenty of shining moments too. I hope we did you proud Coach Rhonda!
After the matches, Rhonda and Tori got a lift back the airport so they could head home. The rest of us packed up and went back to the hotel. We were greeted by a snow shower as we left the Leisure Centre. It was a strange sensation packing up the minivan in our netball dresses in the snow! We went back to the hotel and immediately jumped in the jacuzzi. Wow did that feel good. All the aches and pains went away. There were five of us - some in swimsuits - others in underwear or sports gear pretending to be swimsuits. We took over the hot tub despite the lone Asian man who remained in there with us, way too long, listening to our chatter. Couldn't tell if he was a netball fan, or was just getting his jollies sitting in the hot tub with five women.
After the jacuzzi, we showered up and headed off to the nearby Chianti Restaurant for a cheap and cheerful homestyle italian dinner. We were all tired and hungry and dying for some carbs. The pasta was great. George made us all giggle with his little man style at the table. We ate up, had plenty of laughs, then headed back to the hotel bar for a nightcap. After a couple of drinks, we called it for the night. We went back to our rooms and crashed.
We all checked out at different times on Sunday. Annalise and George left around lunch time. Simone left at 9am. The rest of us met in the lobby at 4:30am to get early flights back to LA, or Dallas for Sonya. Jo, Natacha and I slept most of the way home. I'm sure the other girls did too.
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend of sightseeing, team bonding, hard but great netball and fun in the cold white north. Alberta's hospitality was phenomenal. It was a great experience. Can't wait to come back.
