London & South East Netball

Rodean School in Brighton witnessed 43 schools, place 54 teams in over 260 games of netball on Saturday 20th March. The annual National Schools Final Championship 2010, hosted by England Netball, saw over 600 young netballers compete in the wind and intermittent rain to win their age groups’ winning trophy.

Throughout the 21 rounds of games which took place through the day, Barking Abbey won all their 8 games, the only team to win every match they played and achieved 105 goals in total, whilst their section average was 63. The winning school went on to increase their goal tally, beating King Edwards Senior School 13 goals to 6 in the Semi Final. King Edwards Senior School took 3rd place in the Under 19 category.

Barking Abbey won the Under 19 Final by more than double the amount of goals against Hartpury College, the score finishing 11 goals to 4. The London and South East based school had entered the competition as a regional winner and they entered the Semi Final round in first place in front of Hartpury College. Hartpury College had won all but two games in their section, and beat King Edward VI Lichfield School in the Semi Final, final score 8 – 7. Hartpury College from the South West region finished 2nd place in the Under 19 category whilst King Edward VI Lichfield School from the West Midlands finished 4th.

Tracy Reason, Barking Abbey’s netball coach commented on the day, “I’m so proud of the team. They’ve worked incredibly hard to win the competition and we’re so grateful to everyone who made today possible as well as all of the teams who took part – well done to everyone!”

Hulme Grammar School from the North West won the Under 14 category and Bromsgrove School from the West Midlands won the Under 16 category. Newcastle Central High School was the only school to enter a team into each age category and collectively they were awarded the Endeavour Trophy for excellent sportsmanship throughout the competition. Barking Abbey also won the trophy for the highest number of goals scored, finishing the competition having scored a total of 129.

ENDS