County champions excel (From Gazette Series)

County champions excel

ON January 24, the U14 netball squad from Katharine Lady Berkeley's School represented Gloucestershire at the West Midlands regional finals. The team had become the county champions in December and this was an opportunity for them to match their skills against the top teams from seven other counties.

The squad had trained hard since the start of the spring term and their endeavour and commitment was a credit to each team member.

The opposition were of a very high standard but the team played some outstanding netball in the first match, which gave them the confidence for their next matches. There was a close game against St Mary's School from Herefordshire but the team held out for a 6-4 win.

Unfortunately, the next two games saw them meet very good teams, one of which went through as section winners. After leading Bablake School from Coventry at half-time, the opposition worked out how to beat Vicky Terrett, the goalkeeper, who had played so well that the attack from Bablake could not get near the net.

There then followed another close game with KLB losing by the odd goal. The last match saw them rally to show how and why they are the county champions as they beat Bromsgrove School 5-2.

At this point in time the team have not lost any full matches against other schools and three members of the squad play for the county representative teams. Alice Marler, Rachael Giles and Elizabeth Bryant train with Gloucestershire each week and are now involved in playing matches against other county teams.

Dorothy Chilton, team coach, said: "It has been a pleasure to work with such talented and dedicated players. They are looking forward to preparing for reaching the regional finals again next year."