Netball a crazy sport that is played in skirts in the middle of winter and where you run as fast as you can only to stop suddenly BUT there that does not stop over 140 students getting involved in the Burnside High School Netball Programme.

2019 was another good season for Burnside Netball with 12 Wednesday teams and 9 Saturday teams. In the programme we had 135 players, 14 student umpires and 5 student coaches.

Significant Wednesday results were

Burn G - Y10A and Burn L - Y9C both finished 5th

Burn M - Y9D finished 3rd

Burn J - Y9A had a tough final to finish 2nd

and Burn I - Y10C had the most impressive Wednesday competition cleaning up their division with 252 points for and only 97 against.

Saturday was a mixed bag, significant results were:

The A, U17A and Y10A teams all kept their seedings in division 1 for 2020.

The E team just missed out on a semi final through point difference.

The B team made it to the semi finals but lost against a very polished St Nics team.

At prizegiving awards were give to:

Most Improved

Year 9 D – Caitlin Sim

Year 9 C – Maddie Waugh

Year 9 B – Carys Spratt

Year 9 A – Lulu Ovens

Year 10 C - Meshwa Soni

Year 10 B – Caitlin Mcgregor

Year 10 A – Emma Maye and Olivia Clinton

U17B - Amelia Wilson – 2nd year in a row

U17A – Caitlin Fabiano – 2nd year in a row

Senior D – Bareera Rayeeda

Senior C – Daniqua Fenwick

Senior B – Sharni Ross – Won award in 2017

Senior A – Tahlia Perham

Most Valuable

Year 9 D – Kitty Zhang

Year 9 C – Ella Anderson

Year 9 B – Olive Eskett

Year 9 A – Paige Eder and Lola Holbrough

Year 10 C – Anna Sawyer

Year 10 B – Camille Lambert

Year 10 A – Cathy Porter - 2nd time winning this award

U17B – Lexi Ross

U17A– Alex Sharp – also won in 2017

Senior D – Melissa Coker

Senior C – Danielle Lester

Senior B – Abigail Smith and Paige Cleminson

Senior A – Desa Jackson & Riley Thompson – Desa 2017 winner / Riley 3 years in a row

Coaches Choice

Year 9 D – Aaliyah Bennett

Year 9 C – Molly Seal

Year 9 B – Aleksandra Bogdanova

Year 9 A – Lucinda Thompson-Quinn

Year 10 C – Emma Gibson

Year 10 B – Briana Wilson and Natalie Wu

Year 10 A – Alysia Ono

U17B – Tegan Johnson

U17A– Tara O’Leary

Senior D – Teighan Irvine

Senior C – Maddi Beardsley

Senior B – Laura Goodgame

Senior A – Isabella Pickering

Achievement Awards

Gaining their Umpire Centre Badge this year – Tara O’leary and Brianna Sands

Making the Canterbury U17 Representative Team – Emily Smith

Named in the SISS Tournament Team – Brooke Williams

Named in Canterbury U14 Representative Team and MVP plus named in SISS Tournament Team – Cathy Porter

Supreme Awards

The Official of the Year trophy was awarded to Yanah Rondel. It was a tough job to pick this year having tripled the number of umpires in the programme. However, one umpire stood out from the rest as being a very reliable official who umpired at a very high level and always made herself available for both Wednesday and Saturday games.

The Outstanding Junior Shooter award went to the Y9A shooter – Paige Eder

The Outstanding Senior Shooter award went to the U17A shooter – Alannah Pile

The Team Spirit Award was awarded to Ella Downing for her resilience and sportsmanship. Never giving up Ella continued to work hard despite setbacks. Ella took on every opportunity and gave her best.

The Contribution to Netball award went to Haley Grimes who dedicated many hours to netball coaching, umpiring, and venue controlling. An all-round supporter to the netball programme, always smiling and helping out wherever she was needed.

The Team of the Year award was awarded to the C Team, a hard-working and supportive team. They developed greatly and won more games than they lost.

The Junior Most Promising Player award went to Rosa Vesty who dominates her shooting circle. She has a presence on and off the court that sparks her team mates. Rosa works hard and always strives to be better. She is more than just a strong player, she is supportive, kind and respectful to her teammates, coaches and opposition an asset you cannot coach.

The Excellence in Netball award was given to Brooke Williams who showed true excellence in everything netball. I have had the privilege of coaching Brooke for two years and seeing her growth. She really challenges you as a coach… not just emotionally…. but challenges you to be better as she is always wanting something new to learn and master - and she always does. She is a machine, she is a master at reading the game and adjusting her play and she just keeps wearing down her opponents.

Year 9 A Netball team

Written by Coco Pengelly and Lola Holbrough

Our season playing together in the Year 9a netball team has been a good experience. We have come together as a team and played netball, just as well as making friendships. Our team is filled with 11 encouraging girls who always have positive feedback for everyone in the team.

During the winter holidays we played in the Junior South Island Netball tournament. We came 22nd. In the second game, we fought hard against Garin College from Nelson. It was a really close game and we came out on top, winning 25-21. On day 2 we came up against Marian College and we won 23-13. We all played very well that game, and everytime we have come up against Marian this season it has been a fierce battle.

In the semi-finals of SISS, we came up against Timaru Girls High School. We were down by 7 and fought hard to come back and win it. Miss Post gave us a big chat at half time about believing that we could do it, and we did! She has been a great motivation for the team.

Thank you to Miss Post and parent manager, Michelle Eder, for all of their hard work and dedication over the netball season.

Year 10 A team 

Written by Cathy Porter

This year was an absolute banger for the Year 10A netball team, with an almost full returning team - including our favourite coach Ms Delaney, and some fresh faces. This season was a great opportunity to experience new challenges such as our Saturday games and SISS Junior Netball Tournament. Progression throughout the season was so gratifying to witness. Known as a team that can’t seem to keep their mouths shut, one of our greatest achievements.

Watching the gradual growth of the team over the season was so fulfilling as a captain to see. Although we didn’t exactly have the first encounter we expected; to see everyone develop their skills was a definite highlight.

From one of our rocket middies Alysia Ono: If I were to use one word to sum up this years netball season, it would be friends. This year our team was knocked down countless times, but because of the friendships we formed while partaking in the countless hours of training and games, we were able to pick each other up and support each other when we needed it.

Representing Burnside at the SISS Junior Tournament could only be described as a roller coaster ride. We were entered in the competitive Y10 grade, however, because we had a male player and this grade was meant only for females our team’s points weren’t recorded after the first day’s results. However, the team remained in high spirits and played their hearts out for the rest of the tournament. This also initiated the beginning of our “Justice for Finlay” motto that we continue to use this day. Creating such an enthusiastic and positive environment meant that we were in good stead. In short, our “division one” team are a rowdy bunch from start to finish. All we can say is that we now play as an indoor netball team known as ‘the bois’ and we’re awaiting our chance to face off against Rangi once more.

A quote that we’ve decided associates with our team is “I’ve failed over and over again in life. And that is why I succeed.” In these simple lines is our team’s ethic. Success is never easy, and failures are what helped construct and rebuild our team. I’m going to miss my FBI buddies for sure.

Senior A Netball team

Written by Brooke Williams

The SISS netball tournament is always the most anticipated part of the season. A week away with the team and coaches, as a player you have worked hard over the duration of the season. This year the Burnside Senior A team was lucky enough to get to travel to Nelson, the sunshine capital of New Zealand to compete in the 2019 SISS tournament.

We departed from Burnside High on the 1st of September, but before we could make our way to the sunshine capital we had to make one vital stop at Wild Bean cafe so Mrs Smith (head coach) could obtain the one thing that would keep her sane for the week, a large soy flat white! Mrs Smith now in a much better mood, we made our way to Nelson.

When we arrived at our accommodation or should I say 3 level, 10 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 2 kitchen, 1 media room, 1 games room (pool table & table tennis table included), holiday house with a BBQ and an amazing view, we were disheartened to learn it did not have a cheese grater therefore could only give it 2.5 stars. 

Our first team talk meant a revelation of our team theme - super powers. Our super power was something we were good at, our own strength that we contributed to the team to help achieve our team goals. We ended up with a court full of super heroes. In the shooting circle we had Very Tall Vesty (Rosa), Macsattack (Tayla), Finding Dory (Ella) although strong shooters and movers, they sometimes had trouble understanding common knowledge. Maybe would be wiser with age, good thing next year VTV won’t be only 14. 

The mid court foursome was fast and loud with a range of height, but that didn’t stop them in this sector of the court we had Wordy Birdie (Bridie), Pick ‘n Mix (Bella), Wizzy Rizzy (Riley), and B Bolt (Brigit). 

Our Defence team had elevation, communication and a lot of fines! In the dirty defence dogs we had Doppio D (Desa), The Cathattack (Cathy), Koms K (Kaela), and Bouncy Brooklyn (Brooke). 

Lastly our umpire The Whistler (Bri) although very young she can control the game and she’s not afraid to blow that whistle.

Day 1 of games came around, the sound of excitement filled the house and the sun filled the sky. We had decided for the day we would focus on our personal super power, and use them to our advantage. Before we departed for the courts each day we would read a letter left for us by the very wise Miss Muir (former coach). 

We had or first game against Golden Bay which we managed to take out comfortably 33-15. Or second game of the tournament saw both Wordy Birdie (Bridie), and Double D (Desa) leave the court with ankle injuries within the same minute. Despite this, our team flashed their powers and were able to win against Tokomairiro 54-20. On our way back to the mansion, Ms Smith and Zoe (assistant coach & ex Tactix) sent us to get bags of ice, we immediately knew this meant ice baths. Not the team favourite thing to do but our bodies needed the recovery.

Day 2 saw both Wordy Birdie, and Double D still out for injury, this meant we all had to work very hard to make up for our missing midcourt and defence player. The sun was still shining and it was HOT. But so were we, winning our third game of the tournament against Timaru Girls High 23-37. This meant we finished at the top of our pool and secured our place in Top 16, we went back to the mansion and were able to tick off our first goal of the tournament. We recovered with a feast and went back to the courts for our fourth game against Papanui which we pushed through the heat in to win it 40-23. Us pleasing the coaches meant instead of hot and colds we were allowed to recover with a dip in the sunshine capital's sea.

Day 3 started with an early morning walk up a mountain to wake us up and prepare our bodies for the final half of the tournament. After taking some self timer photos and our assistant coach almost falling over the rail we were ready for our fifth game against Lincoln High. As we got to the courts the rain started pouring, but so did our shots and we managed to play to the conditions and win 22-14. After this we were both soaked and stoked we were in top 8, ticking off another goal. We decided that against Lincoln we didn’t support each other as much as we should have, they were loud, but we should have been louder. Our next game against Verdon was going to be a physical one, so we really needed to pull together and support and protect each other. In game six was the return of Wordy Birdie. We went out loud and proud, we had made it this far and we were ready. We did it, TOP 4, yet another goal achieved, beating Verdon 42-25.

Day 4, our final day together started with mixed emotions, there was excitement, a bit of fear, but most importantly pride. We were in the semi finals for 1st-4th place and we knew there was a lot at stake. 

Sadly we did not play the way we had the rest of the tournament and took our first loss to Riccarton High 23-34. We took some individual time during warm down to reflect on the way we played and we were ready, we regrouped and decided we want to end the tournament playing good netball the way we had been training for all season. 

We all got on court for our final game, as a team we started off somewhat flat. At the end of the first quarter we had a pump up from our coaches and from each other. Now we knew exactly what role we were playing for the team and each and every player did just that. We were able to take away the victory for our final game beating Waimea College 32-26. This meant Burnside High School finishes 3rd in B grade and next year we would compete in A grade against the best 31 high school netball teams in the South Island.