What a relief – ALL the girls returned having had a great time with their hosts. Several already had swopped facebook details ( the modern form of swopping addresses ) and we already looking forward to the afternoon games.
Before that, however, there was time for a spot of sun bathing and retail therapy as we returned to the Gold Coast for the morning. Sun and surf – what a combination but with some super-good looking lifeguards and an UGG outlet shop it was a dream world for the girls. The photos of the beach were FAB – sorry about the darkness but to get the girls out of the shade I would have had to be up to my waist . . . I also don’t quite get the jumping up bit . . that’s all the girls did?
Then back to business . . and the second match of the tour. The Sopwiths were strengthened with the addition of Hannah and were to play outside at the same time that the Hurricanes took on their opponents indoors. The Sopwiths had a tough first quarter and were down by 7. They then rallied tremendously in the next quarter playing some exhilarating netball in the process. On four occasions the centre pass move ended in a cleanly taken goal. Then again fatigue set it and with the excessive heat ( I thought Netball was a winter sport ?) taking its toll on the girls, the All Saints side began to exert their dominance. Nevertheless the RGS girls did not let the game get a way from them and were persevering right to the death. The end result was a 15 – 29 loss.
As they despondently trudged back up to the Sports Hall to support the Hurricanes they had nothing to be ashamed about. The Hurricanes had also lost – narrowly 12 – 38 but had played brilliantly in patches. With a little more control of the ball and patience, the score line would not have read so badly. Positive thinking is what is required for the next game, remembering that the Hurricanes are at the moment undefeated in NZ – for that matter so are the Spitfires and Sopwiths !! Again in the . . . there was plenty of passion – you would expect no less from the likes of Jane and Georgia. Some of the movement up front from Becky and Lian was also impressive. From Immi through Katie R to Lauren at the back, fire was met with fire and the girls held their own. On another day the score would have been different – that’s obvious !! but you know what I mean ?
So 2 – 0 down there was ABSOLUTELY no pressure on the Spitfires to win the first game of the tour, knowing now that this school was no push over when it comes to netball. Indeed we were given a little warning when one of our girls said that in her hosts house there were hundreds of Netball trophies on display !! To watch the speed of thought and pass by the All Saints girls was a revelation to those relatively new to the game ( me ). Whilst we matched their movement and blocking and interceptions we just couldn’t live with their passing and shooting. Try as we might we just couldn’t get the score close enough to see what they were like under pressure. Yes it was hot, yes we were tired, yes we were playing out of our skins and in a sun drenched sports hall in which we could only see half of the court but hey it was the same for the oppo . . . A little more composure around the D and thinking about your pass was repeatedly called for by Mrs Wootten at the end of quarter breaks. So intense was the ‘fight’ – no there was no maliciousness what so ever if you interpret ‘fight’ in that way . . but so intense was the combat that both B and Toni were in tears at the end of the second quarter. I know it sounds bad of me to say, but hell I was so proud of them – if anyone was having a rough time and giving all they had, it was these two girls. B was very upset and found if difficult to breathe so was rested . . . Toni on the other hand was sent up front for a bit of peace and quiet and played a quarter as GA !!! – and not too bad was she either. In the final quarter with the water bottles empty and B back on we gave them one last 15 minutes of Worcester fight / passion . The end score like in Ipswich did not reflect the part RGS played. Yes it was heavy – yes it was a one sided scoreline BUT we played with an enormous amount of pride and courage and if you’re not going to win, then I’d rather play with those characteristics than anything else – wouldn’t you ? Heads did not drop and towels were not thrown in - we gave them a fight.
Then we had a BBQ in front of a rugby match and to our amazement All Saints were playing OSH !! What a small small world . . . you go to the other end of it and find you’ve not gone far at all. . . ( that’s’ got to be a Tolkien quote surely ?)
Back to the coach and spirits were raised with a good sing song and a posh Hotel at the end of it. Miss Duckworth magically then managed to procure some delicious pizzas and all were happy ! Bed time and ready for a 5.00 a.m wake up call.
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