On Thursday 27 April, the Queenswood U13 A+B teams took part in the annual District Netball Tournament, held at Stanborough School. It was a pool and finals set up, with the A team being drawn against Chancellors, Monks Walk and Stanborough, and the B’s against Chancellors, Stanborough, Sir Frederic Osborne (SFO) and Yavneh.

In their first game the A team faced Chancellors, who won the event last year. It was an extremely tight match with goals being scored off every centre pass, but Queenswood were eventually victorious 7-6. They then went on to beat Stanborough 5-4, and Monks Walk 13-3 to go through as group winners. The B team also had success in their pool, winning every game, and also going through as group winners. The most convincing win was against SFO 10-4, with some fine shooting from Clara Mee and Toluwani Olagbegi.

The A team drew Bishops Hatfield Girls School in the semi and the B drew Hertswood. Both teams contested to the last whistle, with the A’s winning 5-2 and the B’s winning 5-3. This meant both finals would be Queenswood v Chancellors, and after a very tough group game, the A’s knew they would need to play their best to win.

Anniversary Williams and Tumi Adewinmbi were outstanding in defence throughout, and Freya Moody worked tirelessly to gain interceptions. Captain Grace Best worked hard in and around the circle and the high balls from centre Holly Dench to GS Zoe Iaonnou were working well. However after both halves were played, the game was 6-6. This meant an additional three minutes of play. Again both teams were scoring off their centre passes so again it was all tied 8-8. It was decided a final three minutes would be played and if not victorious, both teams would share the prize. Queenswood were 10-9 up, and Tumi Adewinmbi intercepted the ball in the circle. Queenswood managed to keep possession and the final whistle was blown. The B team got better as the day went on, and every player worked hard for the team. Their result finished with a fantastic 8-4 win, with an amazing Jaz Kursidim from the edge of the D on the final whistle.

This is the first time both teams in an age group have been crowned champions at the District Tournament.