By Jenny (Year 11 Goal Shooter)

On Wednesday 5th March the year 11 netball team travelled to Wirral Grammar school to participate in the Merseyside County finals. The event had been eagerly anticipated by everyone on the team; seeing as though this was our last chance to prove we were the best in Merseyside. Kicking off at around 2:30, our first game was against West Kirby- a team of great ability who had qualified along side us for the North West of England Finals tournament.

After a shaky start, we managed to break away thanks to some fantastic interplay and ball handling in the mid court, we ultimately won the game quiet convincingly. The afternoon continued in an equally successful manner. The quality of our defending and interception percentage was immensely superior to anyone else’s, Most teams didn’t manage to score against us in fact. Much to our dismay the opponents of our final game was Wirral Grammar who are a developed, functional team, composing of skilled players. Due to many previous head to heads the final between Rainford and Wirral Grammar was seen as a ‘crunch’ match and an opportunity to settle a number of scores.

Tension mounted as we walked on court, Becky’s aggressive arm pumping action and Miss Friar’s words of wisdom fuelled our determination as well as adding to our nervousness! The game started badly, and I mean terribly-the score at half time was 5:5. We were desperate for victory! When the second half began, we knew something had to change. The pace of the game picked up; the ball flowed from player to player more swiftly and accurately; the defenders snatched lose balls and the shooters irrespective of the excessive contacting stragedy of the Wirral defenders, scored with confidence and skill (100% shooting stats).

It was amazing! The game ended with us as the winners and consequently receiving the title Champions of Merseyside. The sense of achievement felt by all will be treasured for a long time along and is greatened with the satisfaction of beating such a well respected and talented team as Wirral Grammar!!

Let me finally take this opportunity to thank and congratulate everyone on the team; Vicky, Rachel, Laura, Sam, Helen, Anna, Becky, Emily and Becky- the hours spent practising those long 5 years have certainly paid off. Also Miss Friar the commitment she has shown to our team since year 7 ceases to amaze me. We are all generally grateful for the work she has put in not forgetting the time and effort. We couldn’t have been such a success full team without her.