Netballers Through to Regional Finals
Our netball teams had a very successful day at the County (Essex Met) round of the National Schools’ Netball Tournament which was held at Redbridge Sports’ Centre on Sunday 18 October. Following their performances in the Borough round, the School had teams competing in all three age groups of the Tournament: U14, U16 and U19.
The U14s had finished as Redbridge Champions in the Borough Round, while both the U16 and U19 teams finished as Borough runners-up. These positions were reversed in the County Round, which saw the U16 win every one of their six games to take the Essex Met title. As might have been expected, the match against Wanstead High School, the Redbridge champions, was a close fixture with the Bancroft’s U16 girls edging ahead to win 10-9. The whole team performed well and it would not be fair to single out any one player as ‘Player of the Tournament’ as they worked so much as a team; however, both the U16 Captain Sinmi Solanke and her Vice Captain Tamika Quartey are worthy of commendation.
Ms Dani Mugridge, Director of Sport at Bancroft’s and coach for the U16 team said:
“The U16 team were outstanding at the County Tournament and played some of the best netball I have seen them play over the last three years. They are one of the best teams I have coached and worked tirelessly to secure their victory. I am an extremely proud coach and really hope that they progress to the National final next year but we have some hard work to put in between now and the Regionals.”
The U14 enjoyed some comfortable wins, with their single loss against Redbridge adversaries Trinity School, which Trinity won 5-3 to go onto take the U14 title.
Ms Mugridge commented:
“The U14s played fantastically as well; they are a fabulous team who will only improve ready for the Regionals. Overall I am very proud of all the efforts the girls and coaches have put in to achieve such great results!”
The girls will compete in the Regional Finals on Sunday 24 January, these will also be held at Redbridge Sports’ Centre.
