I first wrote about Paige's participation on the school's netball team here.
Action on the Court
The netball season ran for about six weeks and Paige loved every moment of it! She tried her hand at all three of the netball positions: Center, Attack and Defense. Her least favorite was Defense; her reasoning being that she's not tall enough to defend as well as other girls, and you don't get to shoot. Her favorite was Center (most access to the full range of the court, constantly in the middle of the action and most contact with the ball) and then Attack (only position that gets to shoot for a goal/basket). Her coach and a few parents told me (unsolicited) that Paige was so fast, that they were impressed by how quick & nimble she was, moving herself all over the court. Awesome to hear!
They practiced for an hour each week before their games. Fun to see the setting; just adjacent to the Queenstown airport, with airplanes landing in the background:
Here's a montage of Paige & teammates on the court during their Saturday games at the Queenstown Events Centre. It's like a game of "Where's Waldo". Can you spot Paige and her blonde ponytail out on the court? :) Addition of text on the photos is courtesy of Sadie on the sidelines, ha!
It's worth noting that during the regular netball season, the girls did not win a single game. In fact they comically lost miserably every time by a wide margin. BUT they improved massively through the season! They started out as largely a group of girls who had never played netball (and in Paige's case, also never even heard of netball!) and progressed a huge amount on the court. Their skills improved and they visibly learned to work together as a team so much better vs. when they started. Super proud of them for that.
Regional Netball Tourney
The girls ended their season at a regional school tournament in Alexandra, a town about 1.5 hours away. About a dozen schools from the broader Central Otago region traveled to participate. The tourney was on a Tuesday. Paige missed school (no issue, an example of their school's focus on outdoor & physical activities) and me & Doug were fortunate to join. It was a soggy start to the morning, but the clouds cleared and sun shone for the rest of the day, drying up the courts.
This video gives a great sense of the tournament scene, and shows Paige in action several times, passing and snatching up the ball!
The most exciting moment of the tourney day was when the girls WON a match!! They closed out the third quarter tied. One girl on their team was on fire on the court and scoring all the baskets. Paige was meant to sub back in & play again in the forth quarter as Attack, but she insisted the girl who had been scoring the baskets, stay in the game in her place. We saw her orchestrate this from the sidelines a few feet away. Paige loves a win, and she knew that was their best chance of winning. Way to take one for the KiwiKiwi team, Sweet P!
The KiwiKiwis beat the opposing team by a nail biting single goal in the final quarter of the game. The girls were ecstatic!! I can't tell you how happy we were for the girls to experience the feeling of actually wining a game!! They'd worked so hard throughout the season, never coming out on top, and to be able to - even once - experience the excitement that comes from wining together as a team, was nothing short of awesome to see! Proud of these girls! I think they had fun together :)
In between their round-robin matches Doug & I took a run on the adjacent Central Otago Rail Track. Paige was pumped to get a netball poster (still no idea who this team is), and it's still proudly displayed in her bedroom :)
Netball Never Sleeps
Paige started out apprehensive about playing a new-to-her sport, but ended up absolutely loving her season playing netball. She rose to the challenge, busted her cutie patootie bum on the court, experienced what it was like to play with & rely on a team, and made some new friends in the process. Couldn't be more proud of her being brave and trying something new! She's already talking about how she can't wait for next netball season!
To support our little netballers, we got a netball hoop for home. Only slight bummer is that at its lowest setting it's 1 foot higher than the height the girls' age plays at. Going to see if we can somehow fix that once we're back at our Crystal Cottage abode. Until then, both Paige & Sadie can be found constantly shooting out back. (and yes, they're wearing matching sweaters, ha!)
Sadie's Up Next!
In exciting news, Sadie also chose to sign up for the QPS netball team for her age group! Their format will be a bit different than Paige's due to limited court space. They won't have weekly matches. Instead they'll practice at school over recess 1-2 times per week, and there will be one Saturday in late September where they'll play a day of round-robin matches against other local schools. Sadie is excited and already in her practice groove! Stay tuned. Heck, maybe we'll have two Bohagirl netball scholarships on the horizon!!
p.s. Since we weren't back home in time to snag Sadie after school, she got to hang with her buddy Grace. She had the BEST afternoon . . . going up the gondola, riding down on the luge and enjoying a yummy Italian dinner with Grace, her sister Maggie and Mom Lisa. So grateful for the help & kindness of new friends!
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