The Year 9 Dream Team’s Day Out

Back row l-r: Katie Williams, Hattie Eve, Ruth Aber, Ellie Crowther, Holly Collier
Front row l-r: Charlotte Morbey, Eliza Powell, Mrs Green, Millie Redshaw, Abi Smith

I am extremely proud of the girls, they have worked really hard to get to the regional round by being champions of the district and coming runners up at the North Yorkshire round. They have being committed by attending training sessions daily to prepare. They were placed 4th overall in Yorkshire, which is a fantastic success. No other school in the Scarborough and Ryedale district have achieved this. It was fantastic to see so many parents supporting us on the day. The girls should be extremely proud of their achievements. Hattie Eve’s colourful report, below, describes their achievements in more detail:

Mrs Green

Our alarms buzzed at 5:30am. That’s when our hearts started to race and our bodies started to tingle. This was the moment we had all been dreaming about for months. Today was the day.

We each arrived for the mini bus at 6:25am in complete darkness, which was due to leave at 6:30am. As soon as the team was seated Hattie Eve proceeded with the girl’s hair; which was to be done in two French plaits. We all agreed it would add to the team spirit.

As the mini bus pulled up at Wickersley College our minds started to race and each of us could feel the excitement rippling around the coach. This was our time, and our chance to show the other schools what Ryedale was made of.

As we arrived at the College slightly early we all gathered in the sports hall and had something to eat. We then made our way outside for the hour warm up. This was critical for our team, especially as a few of the key members of the team had injuries. This hour however passed extremely quickly.

We all scurried into the canteen after the alarm went to clear the courts as the first match was about to start. We all took off our extra layers and stuck on our position patches, then grabbed our water bottles and walked confidently outside. Each of our minds set on the task ahead. The first match ended. This was it. Two months of hard work was about to pay off.

We all gathered in a circular team huddle, arms rapped firmly around each team mate’s shoulders. Captain Ruth Aber led the talk which finished with a determined “Ryedale!”

Fists clenched we walked to our places. The whistle blew and we were off. The ball flew from Eliza Powell’s hand and in the blink of an eye the ball was in the ‘D’ with our precise and faithful shooters, Ruth Aber (GA) and Ellie Crowther (GS). Their accurate shooting gave us a 14-3 win to Hymers College. We then went onto achieve a close but deserved win (8-4) against Hill House.

The next match was critical against Leeds Grammar School ‘GCell’. These girls had made it to Nationals the year before. This was going to be the hardest match any of us had ever played. We worked hard but couldn’t pull through. After fourteen minutes they beat us 12-4.

It was now lunch. Time to refuel, rehydrate and think about the forthcoming games.

After stocking up on energy we went back onto the court and warmed back up for ten minutes. Our next match was Bradford Grammar School which was a great game. Our WA Charlotte Morbey and WD Millie Redshaw/Katie Williams played exceptionally well. We won 9-5 feeling tired but ready for our next match; Ripon Grammar School.

If we won this match we would almost certainly make it to Nationals. This was a very important match. The whistle blew and down the ball flew. One mistake would cost us a goal and we knew this. Our supporters were wild, and shouting for us. Our Head Coach Mrs Green was going crazy. This was our match. There were three minutes left and all of a sudden our teams GD Hattie Eve got cramp in her leg, GK Holly Collier tried her best to stop the goals but they were too hard to stop. In the last three minutes our opponents saw our weakness and used it to their advantage. They took the game and won by one goal, 11-12. It felt like our hearts had snapped in two. We were all heart broken.

With spirits low we then lost to 13-10 to Sheffield High although GK Holly Collier and WA Abi Smith both shone in this match. After that we lost an unfortunate 5-2 to South Hunsly. Although we were upset and frustrated that one goal prevented us from going through to the next round we knew that next time we made it back to Regionals, no one was going to stop us. No one.