By coach Sam Nightingale
It’s been such a great season with many great wins and memories made. I am proud to say it has been the most successful season that a netball academy has ever achieved at Priestley.
We started with a tough away game to Cardinal Newman, they have a strong reputation for performance and a 6ft 4 goal shooter, we were new, disconnected and still learning.
We started to look at some c pass options and defensive pressure in training. We played Clitheroe at home and had our first victory with a comfortable 41-17 win.
We then had our first social to TRU Ninja, all girls conquered the wall with a bit of teamwork and Maddie showed us she is actually a ninja in disguise!
We had our team photo session and our insta game was born.
Our second social was to Body Project to learn a thing or two about core stability.
Our lovely Taylor Ratcliffe was interviewed for our first promo video.
A strong 42-16 victory against Ashton showed the determination and teamwork of the girls, 12 players got on court and worked for each other.
Reels and Be Reals made a debut celebrating our 44-13 win at Loreto. The girls were on point!! Fast, consistent and full of determination!
We then went up against Holy Cross. They gave us a tough match. We are never comfortable losing, but we appreciate it for what it is and always maintain perspective. Losing actually provides us with our greatest opportunity to learn and grow. “YOU EITHER WIN OR YOU LEARN”
We had two impressive wins vs Lymm 31-22 and 28-20. A full squad run out, with everyone getting some well earned court time. Defensive turnovers, attacking movement and shot consistency were evident.
We looked at some attacking drills and shooting stats in training, and completed an impressive 10-shot rainbow challenge.
Our lovely Freya and Emjay were interviewed for our second promo video.
The Winstanley match didn’t go our way with our two defenders coming off injured. I was super proud of our resilience and commitment. We will reflect, reset and go again, next season it’s ours!!
With three injured defenders we took on Aquinas and came away with two fantastic wins 30-24 and 33-30. The girls were focused with a strong drive to win. The matches could have gone either way but the girls showed good resilience and determination.
The hard work from our training sessions is showing now. Defensive pressure, two offers, working as units, passing options, resets, set pieces and shot percentages have all started to transfer to match play.
Netball Disneyland Tour 2023
Wow what an incredible tour!! Nothing but smiles through a 26-hour journey. Bossing the coaching masterclasses and winning not one… but three of the skill competitions and becoming champions in the U18 Tournament.
With the last three matches fully demonstrating our class and talent on the court, it was really impressive to see our individual and team progress. Sunshine, roller coasters, fireworks and the magic of Disney.
We were absolutely delighted to welcome the amazing Taylor McKevitt (Manchester Thunder/England Future Rose) to Priestley College. Taylor delivered a fantastic defending and attacking masterclass.
A full court effort, with our strong defence saw a 42-28 win vs Bury College. We consistently turned the ball over and supported our attackers to demonstrate some precise movement and patience to convert these to goals.
We finished the final game with a 56-11 victory over Sir John Rigby at home, demonstrating all of our hard work this season.
We have finished the season joint third out of 15 teams, which is an incredible achievement considering the high level competition within the north west.
As the season comes to an end, I’m so proud of the team, their commitment and dedication. I can’t wait for what the next season holds.
2022-2023 season – Memories Made!
Happy Team = Happy Coach
