U17 & U19 European Championships

Four Mavericks players went to the European Championships this March as well as three coaches and one Mavericks physio (Tammy Tang)! We are very happy to report that England regained the trophies and came away from both events as triumphant.

England Under 19's competing in the U21 Champs
Players: Paula Gant (Mavericks) & Abi Ryan (Mavericks Youth)
Coach: Kendra Slawinski (Mavericks)
Physio: Tammy Tang
Photographs available at: www.dephotos.co.uk Abi Ryan EU19 Captain

It was a great honor to be made Captain of the U19 England squad that competed in the U21 Netball Europe Championships in Belfast. It was a young but talented squad; seven of the squad gained their first England U19 Caps at this event. Myself and Paula Gant were the Mavericks representatives.

We knew from the outset that the competition this year was going to be a real challenge, with teams like Northern Ireland getting closer to us every year. Also, as we were competing in an U21 competition, we would be coming up against some older and more experienced opposition. This can only be seen as a good thing as it made each and every one of us strive for our best performance!

The team started out brilliantly, surging ahead in the first quarter 17 - 6 against a very determined Northern Ireland Team who were performing in front of their home crowd. The following quarters were much tighter,

but we were always ahead, final score 51 - 42. We had our first win under our belt.

The game started very differently against Wales; the score at the end of the first quarter was 12 - 6, we had definitely not found our rhythm yet. The following quarter made me feel really proud of the team, we showed great determination and fought back to win the quarter 14 - 7,taking the lead at half time by a single goal. Ultimately we won the match convincingly, 49 - 28. Fitness and perseverance as a team was evident from this result.

The Scotland match started off quite evenly with neither team stamping their authority on the match. Despite some inconsistency at times which caused us to fall behind, I never had any doubt that the girls were determined and talented enough to come back and win the game. The final score was 46 - 38.

The coaches and support team, including Mavericks own Kendra Slawinski as Head Coach and Tammy Tang as Physio, along with Jess Garland Assistant Coach and Margaret Palmer Team Manager, played vital roles in our success. Kendra encouraged the team on and off the court with her words of wisdom. Tammy kept us together physically, putting us back together again, while we were 'falling apart' as she put it! Jess was always there to offer support and advice, whilst Margaret was out surrogate Mum for the week and made sure we were all in the right place at the right time, well fed, in the right clean kit!

By Abi Ryan
(England U19 Captain, Mavericks & Mavericks Youth 2007/8)

Abi Ryan (C), Rosalie Alison, Jo Walker, Courtney Cummins, Darcie Worsdale, Danielle Bloomfield, Paula Gant, Scarlet Williams, Alex Kirk, Sarah-Jane O'Sullivan, Vicky Fouhy & Emma Lonsdale.

England Under 17's
Players: Zoe Murdoch & Sophia Candappa (Mavericks Youth)
Coaches: Jo Munnion & Helene Hall (Mavericks Youth)
Photographs available at: www.fotoccompli.co.uk

I travelled down to Cardiff on Wednesday, I was feeling very nervous! On the Thursday we had a team bonding session in the morning and in the afternoon we had surface training.

Friday we played Scotland in the morning and Northern Ireland in the afternoon. The Scotland game started a bit slowly, but once we got going the combination of a tight-man-to-man defence and some fast attacking moves, England eased away, and won convincingly, 70-16. I came on in the second half as C and really enjoyed my first chance to play for my country. That afternoon we played Northern Ireland , I started the game at C, this game was more physical, but we stayed in control and worked the ball down the court comfortably, the final score was 63-23.

On the Saturday, we played the Republic of Ireland and with some good shooting statistics and strong defence, the opposition only scored 1 goal in the whole of the second half. I played WA in the second half.

That evening England ruled the court against Gibraltar, the defence, mid-court and attacking ends were awesome, and we continued to work 100% through-out the whole game even though we were way ahead. It gave each of us an opportunity to practise and perfect the weaker parts of our games, we set a target for 110 goals and we achieved this; however we didn’t expect Gibraltar to score nil in the whole hour, the final score was 110-0, a great achievement! This put a great buzz into the team and we were now fully prepared to play Wales, our hardest match of the weekend.

I started this game at C, Wales lead at the start 3-0, but we soon found our way and with some strong shooting and tight defence it was a relatively easy win, 52-16. The atmosphere for this game was up-tight as the crowd were predominantly Welsh, and they booed at some of the England players.

England U17 Squad: Sophia Candappa, Zoe Murdoch, Layla Gusgoth (C), Becky Cantin, Laura Malcom, Beth Cobden, Masego Moatang, Sam Cook, Sophie Freemantle, Emma Dovey, Kadeen Corbin, Ella Clark

U17 & U19 European Championships Report 12th March 2008

England Under 19's competing in the U21 Champs Players: Paula Gant (Mavericks) & Abi Ryan (Mavericks Youth) Coach: Kendra Slawinski (Mavericks) Physio: Tammy Tang Photographs available at: www.dephotos.co.uk

England Under 17's Players: Zoe Murdoch & Sophia Candappa (Mavericks Youth) Coaches: Jo Munnion & Helene Hall (Mavericks Youth) Photographs available at: www.fotoccompli.co.uk

U17 & U19 European Championships Report
12th March 2008

England Under 19's competing in the U21 Champs
Players: Paula Gant (Mavericks) & Abi Ryan (Mavericks Youth)
Coach: Kendra Slawinski (Mavericks)
Physio: Tammy Tang
Photographs available at: www.dephotos.co.uk

England Under 17's
Players: Zoe Murdoch & Sophia Candappa (Mavericks Youth)
Coaches: Jo Munnion & Helene Hall (Mavericks Youth)
Photographs available at: www.fotoccompli.co.uk