A positive team with strong connections that represents our school with pride.

Well done to the Senior A Netball team on the completion of a difficult netball season. There were a lot of stops and starts and many changes to the format this year, which made it hard for any consistency. They started the year with an unexpected promotion to the Premier grade in the Wednesday night competition. This meant that they faced many fierce games against the top tier of South Canterbury senior netball teams. This was tough for a young and developing side but they held their heads high every week and managed to hold their own. They beat Harlequins A in the final game of the first round, which was a colossal achievement.

Unfortunately, they were still relegated to the Premier Plate grade for the second round. Playing inside under Level 2 conditions with no spectators made for an eerie feel on Wednesday nights. The girls still managed to perform with no crowd atmosphere and won the majority of their games. They once again beat Harlequins A in the final game.

Due to Covid, most tournaments got cancelled this year. The South Island Secondary Schools’ tournament that was due to be held in Timaru unfortunately got cancelled. This will be played in Timaru in 2021. However, the girls got the chance to play in a 3 day mini-tournament during Winter Tournament Week against teams from the region and Christchurch. There were no finals for this and a round-robin style was played. TGHS lost the last game by 1 against Papanui and their strongest game was against Roncalli, beating them 33-19.

Thank you to coaches Kate Shaw and Cecilia Wacokecoke for all of the time and effort you have put in this year. The girls found their technical netball knowledge very valuable. Thank you also to Christine Hull and Tegan James who umpired during Tournament Week.

I hope the girls continue playing netball next year and keep building on what they have worked on this year. Let’s hope for a successful and uninterrupted season next year!

Emma Hough

TIC Netball