Summer league started with a bang!

Team Clubs, newly promoted to division 2, secured a fabulous win against the mighty Jaguars 42-37. Team Hearts, continuing in 1st division, struggled without a few of their players including shooters against top of previous leagues, Alvechurch Panthers with a loss 62-9! Ouch! Our newly formed team Queens, who have only been training together for 3 months, played our youngest, established team Diamonds which saw Diamonds slick play gain them a win 57-19. Unfortunately for Team Aces their game had to be abandoned due to their court being double booked! 😕

Team Clubs and Team Diamonds after their wins!

Alcester Hearts vs Panthers
Final score Hearts 43-55
Well done to all of those that played today. Especially Gemma Ward, Grace Connolly, Grace Taylor and Leah Wood for playing after your own match!
There are so many positives to take away from today: movement through court, patience on the feed, defensive pressure on the opponent’s centre pass to name a few. Excellent circle rotation against a very tough defence by Gemma and Lauren Goymer was a pleasure to watch, with Lauren receiving a very well deserved POM. Report by Natalie Stockdale

A fantastic match between Clubs and CBH today.
Clubs came out incredibly strong with Emily controlling the game at centre and Jeanette and Gemma on fire from the outset. It was also great to see Suzanne back on court and continuing the brilliant defending duo with Lou.
There was a bit of a wobble in the third quarter when legs began to tire and CBH started to pick up their game, but it was soon squashed when original positions were resumed in the 4th quarter.
Final score was 30-39 to clubs!
Fantastic play by everyone, but particular shout outs to Joe and Emily for slotting into the team so well, and Gemma and Jeanette for clicking from the outset. Jeanette’s great movement and shooting stats also gave her a very well deserved player of the match. Report by Rose Pendlebury

Aces v Blossomfield Bees
Aces lose 36-42

A tough match today but plenty of positives to take away.
Defensive pressure was excellent throughout the match forcing errors and gaining turnovers.
Movement bringing the ball from defence into attack was great.
Some good rotation and movement in the shooting circle too!

We started the match going 6-0 down in the first 5 minutes – this is a theme that seems to happen to us every match. We struggle to hit the ground running and get an early lead.

All in all a close game throughout, and one we lost ultimately due to our shakey start.
Players player Gemma Ward and Captain’s Player was given to Chloe Hancox for some brilliant play both defensively and into attack. Report by Gemma Ward.

The sun shone brightly with temperatures of 24 degrees! Hearts played first against a very disciplined CBH 1. Missing 4 of their regular players, they were assisted by some Aces players. A rocky start but Hearts pulled it back during the second quarter to get level, however there were a lot of unforced errors, particularly in attack. CBH’s shooters were on form and rarely missed a shot.

Final score loss 59-29.

Team Aces v Team Clubs

It was always going to be a close game with Clubs having been promoted to 2nd division. A disciplined Clubs team, who have welcomed back Emily Grainger to ATNC, had a strong squad and the newly married Debbie Marshall, stepped in as GS. Team Aces struggled in the heat with 3 of them having already played for Hearts. Final score Clubs 43 Aces 31

In the blink of an eye the summer is over and winter league starts this Sunday! It was a frustrating season which saw our first division team struggle for their regular players weekly. Their Captain sustained a nasty ankle injury which has left Shannon reluctant to return 😳. As a club, we were very fortunate to have players eager to step up to play for Hearts. The end result was a mid table finish. Likewise for our division two team, Aces, who have gelled really well this season and we anticipate high achievement in the winter. Team Clubs did well finishing in 3rd place in division 3 and we look forward to their promotion to division 2 for the winter. We amalgamated Teams Spades and Diamonds for the summer because of GCSE and A Levels. We named them Black Diamonds and although they finished closer to the bottom than the top, we were happy that they continued to play during their exams.

A tough start to the summer league first week with a draw for Team Clubs and three close losses for the other teams resulting in points on the board for all. Second week however saw some great netball and a few wins!

On Tuesday Hearts played Lodge Park in biblical conditions that would be more suited to aqua fit than netball.
The game was affected by the conditions with everyone making errors, quite understandably. The game was tight throughout with neither team able to really capitalise on turn overs and pull away. Hearts stuck in there throughout and managed to pull off a 34 all draw. A game to be endured rather than enjoyed for sure.

Wednesday, two teams, two wins! Aces against a young feisty Ryland team. It was pretty even until the second half when Aces showed their maturity and determination, using all of the court, and defence backing up the attack effectively. Final score 40-24. Our newly amalgamated team, Black Diamonds, were in action against another Alcester club, BDR. Our youth and agility shone through with a fabulous win 55-35.

Thursday another win for ATNC! Team Clubs played Blackhorse, a long established team in the Redditch League. I heard that after a few injured fingers and blackened toe nails they won 33-31