On a warm winters day 10 Glenaeon students from Yr 8 & Yr 9 set off to play six other teams in our 17-schools strong ISD Netball Carnival. Unfortunately a senior team did not eventuate as Yr 10s were in Tasmania, however I did find some 10 girls willing to put their netball skills to the test for a junior team. A couple of lunchtime practice matches and some trying out to see who’s best in what position, a team emerged that looked strong and competitive.

And so we set out, Sofia H., Ava, Poppy, Ciara, Indy and Maya from Yr 9 and Chloe, Rose, Amelia A. and Scarlett S. from Yr 8 to play the first game, winning by a good margin. This built confidence! The second win cemented that confidence and made us think we could take this further! After the fourth win we topped our pool and were to play the runner up of the other pool, Al Zahra College. With a very tight defence and strong GK and GS positions, we beat Al Zahra 12:3. Now we could taste victory and believe we were in for something special: the final against serial winner Amity College.

At times it looked tighter than it was as both teams fought for every ball and every pass. Both sides made mistakes but our balls travelled faster and with more accuracy and our shooters remained calm under pressure! The final result of 15:9 made us scream with happiness, the girls hugging and totally overwhelmed by their own tenacity and the self-belief.

I was very proud of this group that came together only days before. These 10 girls are now friends. They now share in being champions of the 2023 Junior ISD Netball competitions. The school’s name will be engraved in a perpetual trophy and we received a small trophy to display at school along with individual medals and certificates to document the success. The group will be honoured at an assembly soon to share their experience with their peers.

Congratulations to all involved!

Jonas Stoebe
PDHPE Teacher & Co-curricular Organiser