Netball Europe Mavericks
10th April 2009

This spring some Mavericks Youth athletes and a coach were involved in the Netball Europe Championships representing England at U17 and U19 age groups.

Article by
Kelsey Nolan
(England U17 & Mavericks Youth 2006/7, 7/8 & 8/9)

We started our journey by meeting at Gatwick airport after (for some) a long trip down. Once we were through security etc… we were in the departure lounge- and so was the welsh team. It wasn’t long until we crossed paths and we new that the competition was on. In the departure lounge we also met some members of the Great Britain athletics team including sprinter Craig Pickering. Once we had boarded the flight we arrived in Gibraltar and headed straight to the hotel. When we were settled we had dinner and a team meeting to discus the next day.

The next day we had surface training to practice and
finalise some last team combinations. After training we were allowed some free time to have a look round the town of Gibraltar and also say hello to some of our family who had also travelled out there. Once back at the hotel we had dinner and another team meeting to talk about the Scotland game the following day.

The morning of the Scotland game the team seemed relax but once we got to the changing room the nerves began to show. The starting seven was named and both me and Sophia were named as the starting centre court. After an intense warm up the game begun. It was a shaky start for England with Scotland scoring the first goal after a turnover. But England fought it back and eventually came out on top. Sophia and I played a whole game at WA and C. the final score
was 63-8 and I was named player of the match. Spirits
were high after the game and the girls were buzzing.

Saturday brought us the welsh game, we knew this would be our toughest game yet. The starting seven was named again in the changing rooms and again Sophia and I were named as the centre court combination. The atmosphere was amazing with the welsh supporters cheering throughout the whole game. Despite their noise and tactics England pulled an excellent win out of the bag and won 53-18. I played half at WA and Sophia played a whole game at centre and was named player of the match.

Sunday was the final game for us against Northern Ireland. For this game I was not in the starting seven but Sophia started the game. I came on in the second quarter at WA and Sophia moved to C. in the second half we began to step it up and pull away more. I moved to Centre for the second half and we eventually won 62-18.

After the games the girls were so happy with all their performances. The experience was amazing and emotional at the same time. To receive our caps and medals we had to walk out in a line with the captain carrying the flag. It was amazing to see all the England supporters and the other teams all stood there waiting for their caps and medals. Once we had received our caps and medals the national anthem was played. Most of us tried to sing it (after learning the words 5 mins before). The experience was something I can’t explain, it was incredible. After the closing ceremony we said goodbye to our families and went up the rock of Gibraltar and had to walk all the way back down. Through out the trip we had a variety of tasks to complete including creating a hat to wear to dinner and a balloon person. The experience was unbelievable and will stay with me forever.

England U19's
Jo Munnion as England U19 Head Coach and Abi Lambden traveled to Glasgow to compete in the U21 European Championships and following a clean sweep of winning every match, they took the winning trophy and also heard the national athem. This competition was particularly hard fought as the other teams were all assembled months before the U19 group as they are working towards the World Youth Championships in the Cook Islands this August.