U14 Netballers among Best in Country

Having fought their way through the Cheshire and then the North West rounds of the competition, The Grange’s U14 Netballers took their place alongside the best eighteen teams in the country at England Netball’s National Schools’ final.

The squad prepared for the competition with high quality games against Northwich Sapphires and the Cheshire county squad, and also enjoyed extra coaching from Manchester Thunder coach, Jen Fields - so they were well primed for the big one.

After a slow and slightly nervous start the team began to pull together and play some excellent netball. They beat Newcastle, Presdales and George Spencer School comfortably and came out victorious against strong opposition from the Grammar School at Leeds and Godolphin and Latymer. The girls clawed their way up the leader board as the day went on but they had left themselves too much to do. They finished 3rd in the group and, with the top two going through, just failed to reach the next phase of the tournament. Godolphin and Latymer topped the group which left the girls from The Grange pondering what might have been were it not for that slow start.

“The team finished as joint 5th in the country, in a national competition with over 500 schools competing that represents a really excellent achievement. We feel we could have gone further but the team played some fantastic netball and showed that they are one of the best U14 teams on the biggest stage. We are very proud of their achievements,” said Miss Fowler, Head of Netball at The Grange.

Congratulations to: Sophie Sellers (captain), Jess Brocklebank (vice-captain), Katie Wakefield, Millie Peck, Alex Byrne, Emily Pugh, Emily Hills, Emily Cook, Alice Taylor, Daisy Woodmansey and Emily Rowland.