Eagles U12 team ended a disjointed 2020/21 netball season on a real high after winning the ENG YNPL Grand Finals up in Walsall University Campus on July 31st at the meeting of the best Southern and Northern teams in this exciting competition.

The U12 ENG Southern Conference rounds began in earnest in December 2020. Eagles met TTNC in a much anticipated match. It was a close fought game, both teams looking a little rusty after an extended break, but it was TTNC who came out of the blocks better with a narrow win over Eagles beating them 19-17. This was a disappointing start to Eagles’ campaign who had plenty of time to mull over the result as we all entered Lockdown 3.

April 2021 eventually saw the country opening up again and the Eagles’ girls gladly exchanged their Zoom training for the court and match play. Their initial loss was soon a distant memory as they took on Matrix, Maulden and Poole in style with three emphatic wins (32-13, 64-6 and 38-13 respectively). The match against Ryland was next. Ryland were sitting unbeaten at the top of the table. The Eagles’ girls were looking forward to the challenge. They got off to a flying start and went in after Q1 with a score of 7-1. A jittery Q2, however, saw a half time score of 8-8. It was anyone’s game. A few key changes by Coach Andy saw Eagles taking control. It was a close game but Eagles were dominant in the second half and won 21-15. The competition was hotting up.

Round 6 saw Eagles v Magic. Eagles were triumphant beating them 22-11, however, the score wasn’t really reflective of the intensity of the game. It was a well fought match against tough competition which saw Magic really coming into form. Eagles sailed through round 7 with a dominant performance against WPB, 46 – 4, setting them up nicely to meet AP Saints in round 8.

Eagles v AP Saints; eagerly anticipated; both sitting in second position on the table, Eagles only nudging ahead on goal difference. The winner of this match would stand a chance of winning the Southern Conference. Both teams started a little hesitantly but AP Saints got into their groove a little quicker than Eagles. Eagles struggled at the end of Q1 to get the ball through court to goal and went in 6 goals down. Q2 was quite evenly matched but changes in the second half by Coach Neil saw a stronger Eagles combination who pulled the score back. Sadly, there wasn’t enough time to turn it around and AP Saints won 29-26. Eagles were now unable to win the Southern Conference but there was all to play for as the top 4 southern teams were to be invited to the Grand Finals to play against the top 4 northern teams. After a convincing win in round 9 Eagles finished in 3rd position behind AP Saints who were top and TTNC second; Ryland came in in 4th position narrowly beating Magic who were hot on their tails. The Grand Finals awaited!

Grand Finals Day: What a great experience for the girls, with Coach Maria and Coach Lisa at the helm. The sports hall buzzed with excitement as the top 4 northern teams filed in; Saddleworth, Chester, Macclesfield and Wyre; followed by the top 4 southern teams; AP Saints, TTNC, Eagles and Ryland. The quarter finals saw the top northern team playing the 4th southern team and so on which resulted in Eagles playing Chester.

Quarter Finals Eagles v Chester: A win here would see Eagles vying for 1st to 4th positions but a loss would put them into 5th to 8th play offs. The tension was palpable. Chester got the first centre pass but Niamh (Eagles C) came up with a great interception and sent the ball towards the Eagles goal. Sadly, this was not capitalized on and Chester went into a 1-0 lead. Both teams looked nervous in the first half and Eagles took a while to get going. They were the stronger team but were not taking their chances. The score was 8 – 5 to Eagles at half time, largely due to some fantastic interceptions from Joely (Eagles GK) but you could see that Eagles had much more to give. From that point on, however, they didn’t look back. Eagles stopped forcing the ball into the circle and it started to flow in attack; Eagles defence were tenacious and three-quarter time saw an 18-7 lead. Chester fought back in the final quarter with strong mid court defence but Eagles came out with a resounding 21-9 win, opening the door to the semi-finals.

The semi-finals - Eagles v Wyre: This would be a tough one. Despite finishing 4th in the northern conference, Wyre beat first placed Southern Conference team AP Saints in a stunning 21-20 quarter final match. It was notable that in the northern conference rounds Wyre had beaten all three top placed teams and the GA for Wyre was already part of the Northern Thunder Superleague set up. Q1 began with both teams sussing one another out, defence on both sides was strong and no goal was scored for 3 minutes. Eagles then started to play and went in at the end of Q1 4-1 up. Eagles continued their good form into Q2 with Tobi (Eagles GD) managing an amazing tip and intercept off the GA shot. This boosted the team and Eagles went from strength to strength; Niamh at C and Eva at WA driving the ball through court; Issy at WD making a great interception down the line; resulting in an Eagles lead of 12-6 at half time. Q3 began in a similar vein with Eagles storming to a 17-7 lead. It looked like the game was done but a few errors from Eagles and a step up in play by Wyre saw a handful of Wyre goals and a few minutes into Q4 the score was a nail biting 19-17 in Eagles favour. It was Eagles centre pass. Sadly, a pass into Jasmine (Eagles GS) didn’t quite land making it Wyre’s back line; a tense moment; Eagles were straight back on defence and Freya (Eagles GA) got a very well-timed interception, received the give and go and “swooshed” a long shot to secure the centre pass. From this point on Eagles were steady away and came out with a well-earned 24-20 win to secure a spot in the Finals where they would meet Saddleworth, the victors over Macclesfield in the other semi-final and the winners of the northern conference.

The Final - Eagles v Saddleworth: the crowd was buzzing; the teams focussed; the parents just a little nervous! Saddleworth had the better start and surged to a 4-1 lead. Eagles then woke up, started to release the ball quicker and got into their stride resulting in 5-5 at quarter time. The beginning of Q2 saw it going goal for goal both teams looked evenly matched. Then at 9-7 Eagles started to dominate. Their attack was structured and confident, their defence tenacious and relentless. 16-11 at half time. From this point onwards Eagles did not look back and played some of their best netball of the tournament. Jasmine (Eagles GS) was dominant under the post with both shooters hardly missing a shot. Olivia came on at WA and fed the shooters with ease. At the end of Q3 the score was 26-12. Only one more quarter to victory. Eagles played out the final quarter in true championship fashion. Every single player contributed. Eagles’ outstanding defence kept the opposition to 2 goals resulting in an absolutely fabulous 36-14 victory.

The girls, the coaches and the parents erupted with joy. What a great way to end such an unusual season of netball. The icing on the cake was that Issy (Eagles WD) received a place in the Allstars team and Freya, (Eagles GA) received MVP for the tournament. It was definitely worth the trip up north…not to mention the rearranged flights, train rides down from Scotland and foreshortened holidays!