The U11 girls had an extremely busy day of netball at East Grinstead Sports Centre, with nine schools in the morning’s round-robin group stage. At times the girls were on fire; getting every shot in and passing the ball down the court very efficiently. Notable wins from the morning’s matches were a 5-4 win against Guildford High and a 10-0 victory over Radnor House. This 10-0 win would play a vital part in getting the team through to the knockout stages in the afternoon. With one more game left in the group stages, one more win would have cemented our place in the knockout round. It was a tense game against St Aubyn’s who, with some great defence work managed to beat us 1-0. This left us on equal points with Ashdown House and wondering if we would be progressing. The score came in and we got through on goal difference; 3^rd in the group.

This meant we had to play one extra game to qualify to the quarter finals; Holmewood House. The shooters were fantastic, the defence and centre court players were intercepting passes and feeding the attack extremely well and we managed to win 5-1.

The quarter finals awaited us and we knew that with one more win we would make the National Finals. We played Copthorne, who put up a good fight but were no match for the very determined U11 Freemen’s team; we won 5-2 and were in the Semi-Finals. In the Final we met a very strong St George’s team, who unfortunately for our girls were slightly too strong for us and the eventual overall winners.

The girls were excellent throughout the day, not only playing some great netball but showing determination and team spirit throughout the tournament. Out of 38 teams the girls finished 4^th; a truly excellent achievement. We are now all very excited about the National Finals taking place on Friday.