It has been a couple of weeks, but in my defense my computer had died. It was a quick, unexpected end for a unit that served my beck and call tirelessly; a moment of silence is in order.
That should suffice.
Ella played last Friday night (July 25th) and the team came out flat and underperformed stumbling to a 16-8 loss against a relatively weak opponent. The team chemistry was off and Ella only played half the game due to the large number of replacements that the Under 11's Second division team carries. All in all, a disappointing night.
The little netballer, Taylor, had a bye and announced this to everyone she could possibly tell...multiple times. I am not sure if it is because this is her first bye ever, or if it is because it represents a reprieve from the omnipresent Friday night thrashing. Either way, she didn't play and thus the Under 8's Cove team got their (automatic) first two points of the season. Congratulations Cove Under 8's.
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Today is another day. Today meant that the Netball Carnival was in town, which means to the Netball newbie that the girls play a one day tournament of 5 games (minimum) of two 10 minute halves. Winners proceed to semi-finals and ultimately, the Grand Final.
Ella's Under 11's Division 2 Cove Tigers were the youngest team present and represented the Cove club well.
The organizers kept a nice table updated and prior to the playoff rounds, I took a picture. Look at our Cove Tigers 2 (as in Division 2). Each win is worth two points, and a tie is one point :
The Cove Tigers were victorious quite easily in their first three games of the day. The close scores did not represent the games very well. The Division 2 Tigers were very strong offensively but had difficulties scoring. Defensively, the combination of the tall, willowy Grace and shorter, powerful Marley made things very difficult for the opposition. The first three teams only managed a cumulative three goals in 60 minutes of netball. That is impressive.
The fourth game was the low point of the day, as the Cove Tiger Division 2 team met up against their fellow club team, the Division 3. These players were the third tier players in their age group at the club. Logic would dictate that Ella's team would win however the reason we play games is because the unexpected can happen.
In the 2013 Iron Bowl, #1 ranked Alabama were playing against the underdog #4 ranked Auburn Tigers. This outcome was unexpected and is evidence that the game must be played on the pitch, not on paper.
Back to our Division 2 Tigers. The ghost of last Friday nights team seemed to show up on the fourth game of the tournament and the Tigers were lost. Passing to the opposition, missing the net with shots under the rim, poor defensive coverage. You think of it, and the Division 2 team did it. The coach was trying different tactics of changing player positions, yelling out directions but all to no avail and the draw was a lucky outcome.
This has been the problem with the team this season. We are still at a level at Under 11 where the coach is trying to rotate players to different positions to be fair, and clearly this means that there will be times where the best possible rotation is not being used. Case and point: Ella has fantastic hands, and a pass that is getting better thereby allowing her to utilize her intelligence and vision on the court. Her weaknesses are her speed and her defensive awareness/ferociousness. When she get put at Centre or Wing Attack the game can flow through her. When she is at Wing Defense she offers very little and is a detriment to the team, and yet every second game she is positioned there for a rotational schedule.
So what do you do? Do you accept that the process of letting all the girls play at this young age means that they field an inferior team and risk losing?
As fate would have it, the Division 2 Tigers trounced a very, very young Division 4 team and once again met the Division 3 Tigers in the Semi-final. This time the coach put the premiere line up on the court, with Ella playing centre and wing attack, and the Division 2 players show why they were selected in the higher team. The Tigers trounced the Division 3 team 9-2 in a one sided match that was over by half time.
The Grand Final turned out to be an oxymoron. The match was certainly not "Grand" as our Division 2 team ran into a visiting club team, the Panthers, who were most likely in the wrong division. They smashed our Tigers in a 22-1 drubbing. I think by this point in the day (starting at 8:30 and ending at 16:30) Finn represented the common emotion of our Division 2 runner-ups. T...I...R...E..D.
Congratulations girls on an impressive performance! At the end of the tournament, our Division 2 Tigers were the highest ranked out of all the Cove Tiger teams: Under 11 Div. 1, Under 13 Div 2, Under 13 Div 1, Under 15 and Under 17. Our U11's Div 2 were the only ones to make the Grand Finals. Well done!
Oh, and Happy Anniversary beautiful bride. 12 years of happiness, 3 gorgeous children, and a whole bunch of laughs.
