From A Birds Eye View
Saturday 9th September 2006
The squad:-
Debbie, Marcia, Sandra Sonola, Cassandra, Dionne, Beverly, Angela Campbell, Lorna, Sandra Panton, Kim
The Manager – Pam
NWKL Beginning of Season Rally
Coldharbour Leisure Centre
A gorgeous day – blue skies and uninterrupted sunshine.
The Lionhearts crew arrived at 10am and readied themselves for their first
NWKL Rally. Pam prepared the paperwork and called us together for our team talk
Bev umpired the first game of the rally then the Lions made their way to court 8.
We stood on court 8 but our opposition didn’t arrive. We spotted Caspians on court 7 and yelled across, ‘you’re on the wrong court’ and signalled them to come join us on court 8 but they didn’t really pay much attention. It was then that our Pam re-checked the schedule and informed us that our first game was a bye because one of teams in our group had pulled out of the tournament.
Better to be early than to be late! Don’t ya think?
Finally, our day started with the match against Caspians. A 9 v 0 Victory!!
Victory continued through the morning. The game against Topaz was a thriller. Pam selected the team, the whistle blew and both teams were off. Hmmmm…Pam quickly realised that the combinations on court were not working. To her horror 2 of the substitutions were nowhere in sight & changes had to be made. Debbie and Kim strolled up to the court to hear the umpire say,
‘Topaz leads 5 v 1.
The half time whistle could not come quick enough and Pam was ready with her plan,
‘Marcia give the GK bib to Debbie, Cassandra go on as WD, Sandra give the GS bib to Kim’. ‘Now come on girls’.
Well Topaz felt the effect of Pam’s changes immediately. The feeds into their very well positioned GS were intercepted and they watched open mouthed as we propelled the ball down the court and into our GS who scored perfect goals.
We scored 4 consecutive goals in the same swift and accurate manner. Then, a few ill chosen passes and other silly mistakes crept back into our game giving Topaz a chance to hang on. We battled on and as Kim held the ball in her hand to shoot, the hooter and the umpire’s whistle sounded.
The game ended. Lionhearts had lost 8 goals to 9.
The scores on the doors in the morning session were:-
Caspian 9 v 0
Westcombe 9 v 6
Island 10 v 0
CP2 14 v 9
Topaz 8 v 9
Blackheath 10 v 2
Although we lost a game we were placed 1st in our group and went on to play in the ‘top’ group in the afternoon session. Two wins, a draw and three losses put us in 4th place behind the winners KCNC 1, 2nd place KCNC 2 and 3rd place Tonbridge.
Everyone was tired in the afternoon and it showed. Our passing was inaccurate and the movement on court was poor. Far too many mistakes really. Losing to Tonbridge after being 4 v 1 up at half time being one of the biggest mistakes.
It was an enjoyable day that we will be remember.
Pam managed to lose ALL but one coin toss!
The substitute coin tosser followed Pam’s lead and lost too!
We beat Daggers NC!
Enuff said!
Debs
Thursday 29th September
Midweek league,
Today it would appear that the London Lionhearts dropped their first points of the season, "who beat the mighty Lions?" I hear you ask, Well, themselves actually.
In an unprecedented, uncharacteristic manner, the Lions failed to turn up for their first midweek league match which was scheduled against Harlequins. At the start time there were only 4 lions on court, causing them to forfeit the match. The Lions, who stood a great chance of winning this league, now have an uphill battle.
The Manageress said "It was an unfortunate occurrence, No one else was available, and two of our Ladies were unavoidably detained." The Captain was unavailable for comment.
Sat 16th Sept
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Match Report: : Lionhearts ‘1’ V Swanley SQUAD – KIM (GS) LORNA (GA) PAM (WA) CLANCY(C ) SANDRA S (WD) CATRIN (GD) MARCIA(GK) DEBI (RES) DIONNE (RES)
UMPIRE: Bev Barrington Sunny & warm The squad arrived 30 minutes before the game and warmed up. As soon as the game started ‘The Lions’ made quick easy work of getting the ball to their shooters. Immediately the goals started racking up. Then…shortly into the first quarter speed and inaccurate passes caused the team’s ‘neat’ game to unravel. The attack, in particular, had to work at regaining their composure. As the mistakes occurred and re-occurred, the players became more and more vocal. The players got quite loud as they voiced their reasons for the mistakes and offered their suggestions to correct the errors….but it didn’t last long as the vice captain appealed to the team to keep calm!
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The first quarter ended with Lionhearts up 15 goals to 3. The team went back on court to do battle after a positive team talk. Marcia and Catrin worked brilliantly together in the circle. Marcia constantly hassled the GS and kept her away from the ball whilst Catrin made great interceptions in the air, helping ‘The Lions’ to keep possession of the ball. Sandra had some great tips and interceptions on Swanley’s centre passes and supported the attack in the centre court throughout the game. ‘The Lions’ were never in danger of losing this game as Swanley did not have enough power to ‘beat’ them. But at times, when ‘The Lions’ failed to curb their excessive speed and inaccurate passes, Swanley’s performance appeared particularly good! Especially the Swanley GK. Dionne replaced Clancy at half time as ‘C’ and Debbie joined the game at ‘GK’ Marcia moved to WD. Pam, ‘the captain’ decided to rest Clancy and Sandra in the 3rd quarter. All the defences did their job well and Catrin continued to shine. The attacks took time to ‘gel’ after the changes were made. In the last quarter Clancy returned to play ‘C’ and Sandra returned to play ‘WD’. Dionne moved to WA. Marcia and Pam rested.
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1st quarter 13 v 5 2nd quarter 26 v 8 3rd quarter 36 v 15 4th quarter 46 v 22 Victory for the Lions………… ROOAARRRR!! Great shooting girls (Swanley GS was impressed too). More goals next time. No pressure!!! Training has really paid off for ‘The Lions’. Great support by all. Player of The Match ** CATRIN ** A great start to the season Lions!
Debs |
Game Two
by Bev Barrington
“From the Lion’s mouth”
Match Report
Date:
Time:
Opposition: Askeans
Umpire: Deborah Barrington (original umpire was late)
Weather: Lovely sunny day
The Squad
Sandra Panton (GS), Beverly Barrington (GA),
Angela Campbell (WA), Cassandra Douglas (C),
Hear the Lions Roar, Yesterday the Lions 2 Netball team started their season in fine style. Arriving early the squad did their individual warm up preparing and psyching themselves for what was to be their first league match of the season.
The captain re-iterated that although they were in Division 10, they would not play like Division 10 netballers, This challenge was accepted by the Ladies.
In the first quarter The Lions assessed their opponent’s level of play, and realizing that it should be easy work dropped their work rate. Pre-season training forgotten, the Lions’ passing and positioning left much to be desired causing over work. By the end of the second quarter tiredness was evident.
At half time substitutes were made, Dionne was introduced to the match and Cassandra was switched to WD. These changes unsettled the Lions even more as the Askeans proved to have their best quarter of the game, scoring a massive 7 goals, and threatening to gain a point by scoring more than half of the Lions total.
More changes were made at the beginning of the 4th quarter, This time the Lions got it right. Their focus and discipline returned, attacking, defending and shooting above par. With their confidence up the Lions moved the ball easily through the court to the shooter and goals flowed. The defence was not to be out done and many interceptions were made and converted into goals. 23 goals scored in the 4 quarter saw the Lions romp to their first win 63 – 20.
Score
1st quarter 12 - 5
2nd quarter 25 - 9
3rd quarter 40 - 16
4th quarter 63 - 20
Well done Lions………..The standard has been set!
Player of the Match
* - SARAH BUCKBERRY - *