During the Easter break, 40 of our Year 9 and 10 students had the opportunity to take their netball skills international! The journey to Disney was a quick crossing with luckily no delays, although lots of questions about how the train goes underwater. Some were very disappointed that they could not see fish out of the window, despite Mr Turney’s insistence that they would!

For our three main days, our time was split between netball in the morning and parks in the afternoon, as well as activities such as swimming in the evening. This meant a very busy schedule for our girls some of whom weren’t used to getting up at 6:30am. The netball competition was tough with a mixture of club and school teams in attendance but our girls stood their ground. There were some amazing performances and real displays of grit, determination and resilience shown by students in all year groups. This ultimately meant all teams received a trophy for finishing 4th place or higher in all levels of the competitions! During the tournament, a couple of things become notable by our staff and others in attendance, which was how supportive of one another the teams were as well as how amazing they looked in their hoodies and kit.

The students also got to experience a Coaching Masterclass from Superleague Team Coaches and meet a Superleague player from Manchester Thunder. This gave the girls an insight into the life of an elite female sportsperson and time to ask questions, to give them an understanding of what they could do to follow in her footsteps. The masterclasses focused on all different parts of the game with professional coaches showing them the ropes and having fun. Most  commented this was the best part of the netball trip (bar the parks).

Whilst the netball was the main focus, the location being Disney made the trip even better. Every day after the netball finished we headed to the parks until late, where the girls were lucky to experience short wait times on rides, making the most of their time there despite the torrential rain and snow on day 3!

The staff were so proud to see all the girls bond together and support one another through the netball and engage with people who they wouldn’t normally meet on a day-to-day basis.  Safe to say Disney, we’ll be back!

Miss Pearson, Mrs Ward, Mr Turney, Miss Jennings & Miss Preston