Friday Night Lights (30/5/14)

Under 8's:  Another Friday, Another Schlacking....

                                         Cove Tigers Yellow*  2  -    15    Cove Tigers Black

Scorers:  Taylor Gunton 2 goals !

* Taylor's team

A cloudy and cool Friday night saw the Gunton faithful yet again huddled on the sidelines of the netball court, watching their beloved girls battling away. 

For the youngest Gunton girl, the game was a mirror image of the previous matches with Team Yellow getting massacred by the opposition. Early in the second quarter the mercy rule was employed, and the referee started to nudge the ball back into play, repeatedly allowing the Yellow team to have possession despite multiple turnvovers and even allowing the Yellow shooters to have mulligans on their shots.

At half time, the Black team was getting instructions on how to allow the Yellow team to pass without intercepting and how to not block the Yellow shooters.

All to no avail. 

The Yellow team were pleasantly useless and seemed to enjoy the game. The highlight for the pictured little girl is her first two goals and the added bonus is that they were on the opposition's net. A big achievement for the happy Cove Tiger.

Under 11's: A Game of Two Halves. 

                             Cove Tigers :   Some Score        Blue & Green team:    Four more than Cove

I know- pretty weak score line. We neglected to find out the formal score but to be fair, the cold weather had finally won the night and this little boy and his Momma were ready for home:

Ella has recently been promoted to the Under 11's Cove Tigers Team 2 (the second best for the age group). With this, she played the majority of the night at a new position, center. If you recall, last season she played a shooting position and this year with the promotion, the coach seems to like Ella's passing and catching skills better than her shooting. I tend to agree. 

In the first half of the game, the Tigers played a tight game with intelligent passing and accurate shooting. Ella was much better this game, controlling the middle of the court and setting a tone for the attack. The shooter Shay is a tall target for the Tigers and played very well in the first half with a high conversion rate and excellent positioning.

The second half was a different tale. The coach moved players around and introduced new players and the rhythm was lost. The conversion rate on their shooting dropped off and the smaller Blue&Green team began to dictate the play. Ella's passing began to miss and were hurried and the team's offence sputtered to a halt. 

Nevertheless, the team is new and I think they have the talent to play much better than what we watched tonight. The coaching is excellent and very vocal. I think Ella will benefit from the higher level of play and expectations. 

Oh, we couldn't leave tonight's blog without a picture of our pretty Netball Star (Crazy Hair Ella!):

Two for One!

Friday Night: Special: Two For One!

Under 8's: David versus Goliath


                                 Cove Tigers Yellow*    1    -        26  Cove Tigers White

                                                                       * Taylor's team

Taylor's third career netball game was a rostering nightmare. Two under 8's team went up against each other, one of them had an average height of a Grade 2-3 child (Goliath) whereas the other had a height of preschoolers (David). The net result? 26 goals to 1.

If Tay was a better shot, it would have been 27-1. Bless her little soul, the little girl (for the second game in a row) decided that since she was closer to the net in her end, and the aim of the game is to put the ball into a net... well logically she should just put a shot up on the net she is standing beside. None of the girls on her team said anything, I don't think any of them knew that what she had just done was wrong.

The little girl played well showing some impressive catching abilities and a powerful little pass. Her defending is atrocious as she runs very hard, gets near the player she is defending and then backs up and lets them receive the pass and keep playing. We are trying to ignite that inner competitive fire. Maybe we should try a new tactic like, "Tay, imagine that girl is trying to steal your designer leggings".

So what is the effect of a 26-1 thrashing on a 6 year old girl? Eavesdrop in on this conversation overheard walking to the car after the games:

Tay : Well, we only lost tonight by two goals.
Kar:  I think you mean 22 honey.
Tay: What?!

And scene.


Under 11's:  Medic!!!


                                  Cove Tigers Team 3 *    12    -       6    Cove Tigers Team 2

                                                                       * Ella's team

Tonight represented Ella's first netball game of the season as she comes back from a serious calf injury after a fall from a tree. 

If you are squeamish, you may not like the following image:

 Ella (now healed) played in a position that she normally doesn't play and although she tried hard, she was clearly rusty with the first three passes in a row intercepted by the opposition. By the end of the game she rallied with a few more seeing-eye-passes.

The new team showed some flashes of offensive talent with reasonable defensive awareness. I haven't got a sense of who the new players are and how they interact. I will have to keep you updated as the team starts to show it's identity.

A good win by a promising new team!

                                                                       ---------

As a scary end note, both teams witnessed a girl stumble after a collision and fall onto an outstretched hand. She was immediately in trouble, holding her wrist and crying out. Early word from the team trainers is a fractured wrist. For a non-contact game, netball sees some big spills. Poor thing.

Tiger Cubs Game 1: Learning how to Walk.

Taylor's First Netball Game

Score:  Cove Tigers (Yellow*)  1  -   4  Cove Tigers (Green)

* Taylor's Club

         Welcome to the 2014 Winter season. (I can hear Karen sobbing in the background at the prospect of winter sports).  We have a new Gunton girl playing netball this year as Taylor takes the court for the first time. To say that the little girl was nervous before this game would be an understatement. She is the type that doesn't adjust to new things overly well and likes to have all the information before jumping. With that in mind, Taylor did very well tonight.

        The weather tonight was....well a picture should tell the story:

Here is Taylor with her team mate and best friend Charlotte, no nerves insight only puddles. Oh, and a little boy who thought that it was picture time:

The game was as you would expect from a team of players who had little clue as to the rules, positions, direction in which to shoot etc. Imagine a little swarm of bees roaming around the court accompanied by a cacophony of "Here! Here!". They scored once and I think they have a nice building block for moving forward into the season.

Well done Tay, Charlotte and the other team Yellow girls!