County Netball Tournaments Report – Oct 2025
Moving straight into County rounds for the National Schools’ Netball competition was a new format this year for Suffolk Schools. All three age groups played schools from North, South and West Suffolk to compete for the top two places to represent the County at the East Region tournament in February. Our reports are from Mrs Johnson and Miss Sanders.
Woodbridge U14s
The U14s put on an excellent display on Monday afternoon at Rushmere. The sun was shining, and it was like a summer’s day – some would say, it was too hot for Netball! As there were 13 schools competing, teams were split into two pools, so the girls knew we had to give everything if we were in with a chance of getting to Regionals.
We started the competition positively and put up a strong performance against locals, Farlingaye and came away with an 11–4 win in our first match. After a short break, we then played five games in a row, which was tiring and didn’t give us much breathing space between each one.
Next were Finborough – a tough team, who we had to try and beat. It was all even until the last few seconds of the game, when we managed to turn their centre pass over and score, going ahead by one goal. Luckily the final whistle went, and we came away 10–9 winners.
Ipswich High were next, and we had not beaten this team yet this year, so knew they were strong. The girls fought so hard and didn’t give up. Our shooting was consistent, along with our court play and defending out of our skins, to try and turn the ball over. Again, another match where it was all even and we managed to score off our centre and come away with the win. We were ecstatic at the 8-7 score! The girls were on a high and even more up for getting through as they were proving to themselves, they could do it!
Our next two matches were a lot easier, so less pressure, although we needed to score as many goals as we could as every goal mattered, in case there was a draw. We put up good performances against both County Upper and Hartismere, resulting in 13-2 and 10-0 wins.
It was all to play for in our last match against Fram. It was another match where the play was even, both teams scoring off their centre passes, which is tournament play as any missed goal can result in a team going behind by two goals. Just as the half time whistle went, we scored a penalty to take us one ahead, but the umpire disallowed it (not sure why!), so we went into the second half with a fight on our hands. F ram took the lead and unfortunately, the final whistle went, resulting in 8-7 loss. Our heads dropped a little, but the team were so proud of what they had achieved and were looking forward to seeing where we can in our pool.
Coming 2nd in our pool, we faced a super slick and amazing RHS team, who played faultlessly. Tiredness was kicking in and we couldn’t prevent them from their super play. After losing, we knew that we could not be in the top two teams, but we had a 3rd/ 4th match to play, so found that last bit of energy in our match against Ipswich School.
Unfortunately, we did not have enough energy in our tanks as we had used it during the afternoon, but we still continued to play our hearts out and with determination and were drawing at half time. We struggled to make it to the last hurdle and Ipswich went ahead by four goals, so out of our reach in the last seven minutes of the match.
A superb effort by all and coming 4th overall is an excellent achievement! Woodbridge played exceptionally well and should be proud of what they achieved together, as myself and Mrs Johnson were so proud of you all! Well done to our team, Year 9’s India J (Captain), Alexandra, Imogen M, Imarah, Sienna, Mariella, India B and Year 8’s Martha, Grace and Matilda.
Woodbridge U16s
An excellent afternoon of netball was had by the U16s where every single player worked their socks off and gave 100%.
Drawn in two pools with 11 other schools competing we started with a close game versus Farlingaye and edged ahead to win 16-13 with some amazing shooting from Izzy, Amelie and Georgia. The defensive team of Eve, Pip and Cleo performed really well in our game versus Stowmarket for us to take our second victory 8-3.
Next up was RHS and our dominance in the centre court from Eva, Georgia, Frankie, Annie and Felicity enabled us to win a tight game 11-9. We then had Culford, another pool favourite, but after going behind we came back to win 9-7 with some cool, calm and collected play from the whole squad.
We then took on Hartismere after a long break but dominated and were able to up our goal difference winning 20-3.
Having won our pool, we then faced Ipswich High in the semi-finals. Having narrowly beaten them in a recent friendly match, we knew they were going to be tough opposition but took to the court with everything to play for – a place at the Regional Finals!
It was so close, going from end to end with every centre pass and each team scoring. In a seven minute each way game every goal and turnover counts; unfortunately, IHS gained a turnover and capitalised. They pulled two ahead and although we never gave up that advantage was never lost, and we went down 8-10.
Disappointed doesn’t even explain it as the girls had given everything – we just didn’t have that last bit of luck on our side which is always needed in tournament play.
The girls were an absolute credit to the School and went on to beat Culford 14-8 in the 3rd/4th place playoff. They played for pride and were fantastic, each and every one of them and we couldn’t be prouder of the way they played or conducted themselves. Well done to our team, Year 11’s Georgia C, Frankie, Annie, Izzy H, Felicity, Amelie, Eva P, Cleo, Eve S, and Phillipa.
Woodbridge U19s
With a slightly different format to the U16s, the U19s found themselves in a pool of eight teams, therefore the afternoon was a round-robin competition with again, the top two going to Regionals.
The team were up for it, (even though our warming up was a little lacklustre!) but not looking forward to facing Ipswich in our first match. The girls knew this would be a tough match, although we did beat them in a full game at the end of last season, so had an idea of their tactics and specific players’ strengths and weaknesses.
We unfortunately were slow to get out of the blocks, so allowed the opposition to take control and win 10-3. With new combinations too, it took us a while to get regrouped and play as a team who meant business, but we were ready for our next match against Farlingaye.
Drawing at half time, we were in it, until we unfortunately missed a goal, therefore enabling Farlingaye to go ahead by two goals. With only a minute to go, we couldn’t fight back, so narrowly lost by two.
With two matches down and five to go with Finborough next, the team knew this would not be an easy match. Again, we had beaten them in a full game last season, but we feel the pressure more in tournament play. Another match where it was all even at half time, but let the pressure get to us, plus the on court noise from the opposition and our heads went down, therefore enabling them to take control and the lead. A 16-7 loss. Although we knew we were no longer in contention for 1st or 2nd place, we still wanted to prove to ourselves that we could come 3rd or even 4th, so kept on fighting in the last four games.
What a difference these matches were! Various combinations of shooters, defenders and centre court players proved we were a versatile team and everyone gave their all. We dominated St Jo’s resulting in an 11-6 win, Fram were next and again, we played brilliantly and came away with a 14-5 win.
With a positive attitude and a drive to win the last two games, we put 100% in and played with tenacity and determination. Culford were next up and from the starting whistle, we played some super Netball and defended out of our skins. This performance resulted in a 12–7 win.
Last up, it was RHS. Although we felt a little physically and mentally drained, a win was what the team were after. Dominating from the starting whistle and not giving up until the final whistle, we were again successful and won 13-3.
Well done to all the girls – a superb squad effort, even though we took a lot longer to warm up than other teams. Coming 4th overall was another positive result and one we were super pleased with! Our team comprised Year 13’s Lara (Captain), Georgia P, Georgia G, Issy C, Phoebe D, Yr 12’s Lyrah, Millie, Scarlett, Aurelia and Bea.
Thank you to Mrs Johnson, Mrs Pilkington and Mrs Pineo for all their help and support, but especially giving up their time to be with the tournament teams. It was much appreciated by Miss Sanders (who was stepping in for Mrs Gray).
