SISS Netball Tournament

The JHC Gold A netball team travelled to Christchurch to compete with 84 other teams in the SISS tournament. The tournament was held at the newly built Nga Puna Wai stadium. A great venue for both players and supporters.
Coached by Veronica Baird and managed by Sue Yeo the girls had enjoyed a very successful season leading into this tournament. The team also appreciated having Catherine Patterson as their team umpire.
After training hard and building a strong team culture over 6 months, the girls played each game with pride and spirit. The team competed in A Grade and enjoyed 6 wins from their 8 games played. Their fitness and skill set saw them battle their way to a successful 13th place from 32 teams. Unfortunately bonus points worked against the team this year which meant they missed a very realistic top 8 finish and the disappointment of seeing teams they had beaten finish ahead of them. The joys of sport!
With the huge depth of talent in this year’s team we were able to smoothly rotate all our players on court throughout the week. The positive energy from players when they had a turn on the bench was both impressive and invaluable.
The girls beat Marion College 36-35, Wakatipu High School 45-22, Waitaki Girls High School 40-23, Nelson Girls High School 32-30, Otago Girls High School 41-36 and Marlborough Girls High School 38-30 but unfortunately losing a close game to CSC and another loss to St Margarets who were the eventual winners of the tournament.
The team bonding sessions, singing, motivational quotes, some unique memes and fun times made this another tournament for the girls to look back on with pride and special memories. The girls were also very lucky to have a great group of parents and grandparents to cheer them on throughout the week, wigs, dress ups and all!
Congratulations girls on your great achievement.
Captain – Brooke Cross (C/ WD)
Vice Captain* Libby Crawford (GA/GS) *Named in the Talented Identification player list.
Cait Shaw-Ryan (WD/C)
Dakota Kennedy (GK/GD)
Sophie Hika (GK)
Macey Ellis (GK/GD)
Hannah Tufui (GK/GD)
Katie Oliver (WA)
Elly Baird (GS/GA)
Aneeka Fosbender (WA/WD)