Classy Jelly are ice cool to grab success

Jelly led the way as team played great netball

Teams from Swindon and Poole made the trip to take part, as well as local entries in both age groups from Fareham Fireflies.

The tournament ran smoothly, with the help of beginner umpires who were using the event to develop their skills, gain experience and confidence.

It was a big success as the tournament hosted some fabulous netball.

The Fareham under-13 girls put on a great display against a strong Raychem side losing out by just two goals.

Then the Raychem outfit were put through their paces in a tough contest against the Jellies under-14 squad.

Jellies battled through after being down at half-time to take the victory 14-6.

Another close match in the section was between the Jelly under-13 and under-14 sides, just two goals separated the teams at the final whistle with the under-14 team taking the victory 13-11.

Against Poole, both the Jelly and Fareham teams recorded massive wins – as Poole finished up in fifth place.

The battle for second and third was closely fought between the Jelly under-13s and Raychem under-13.

Raychem took advantage of a number of passing errors by the Jelly girls and were 4-3 up at half-time.

The Jelly girls remained composed and played a mature match to pull ahead and take the game 6-5.

The final positions saw Jelly under-14 first, Jelly under-13 second, Raychem under-13 third, Fareham Fireflies fourth, and Poole Pearls fifth.

In the under-11 group there were again a lot of tight games with all the girls playing some great standard netball.

It was the first competitive netball experience for a new team made up of ‘pay and play’ netball girls.

Named the Pick-a-Mix, some of the girls playing were as young as eight but they had a great day and were super proud of the two goals they scored during the tournament.

There were a number of close matches with the closest contest seeing Shorwell leading at half-time against Jellies after some accurate shooting from Shorwell’s Chloe Graves.

Jellies pulled back level and in the dying seconds scored to take the match 6-5 and win the tournament.

Shorwell finished second, Raychem took third, Fareham Fireflies finished fourth and Pick-a-Mix were fifth.

The sportsmanship team award went to Pick-a-Mix, while player of the tournament awards for both age groups were presented to Ciara Foley, of Fireflies, and Poppy Chandler, of Jellies. Fareham Fireflies were quiz champions.

Organiser Julie Osbourne also thanked the supporting parents.