​We really are almost at the end of the 2016/17 season now, even though the netball continues for many! For those who couldn’t make it, we celebrated our awards evening on Friday night, setting a new “best” for a Club Social event. Thorner Victory Hall was our venue, we had about 150 people, eating great food, and heard of all the amazing achievements of our athletes this season, supported by excellent coaches and parents.
 
CLUB SUCCESSES

• Premier League – stayed in top division
• Northern League – 3rd
• Senior Regional League – 4th
• West Yorkshire SuperLeague – winners, unbeaten
• Netball Nights – strong finish (4TH) in tough league
• U11A 1ST & U11B 4TH - in WY Hi Five top division
• U12A 1ST in WY first div & U12B 3RD IN WY first div & U12C top in 2nd division (playing up)
• U14A - Y&H Champs and WY champs - unbeaten
• U14B – 3rd in WY first division
• U16 – 3rd @ Nationals, Y&H Champs and WY champs
• Some great tournaments and friendlies

Short update this week! Primary purpose is to let people know that we have announced trials for next season's U14&16 squads. These are much earlier than usual! Seniors and U12 trials will be announced soon. 

Click on this link http://www.leedsathleticnetballclub.org.uk/club-info.html for the form. Relevant deadlines and all the info you need are on the trial info letter on that page. 

Please pass onto people who maybe interested, we will promote through social media. Ideally, we don't want anyone who is interested to miss out! 

Good luck to U12s playing in a tournament tmrw and to U14 who continue on their predation for Nationals at the end of the month! 

LAST CHANCE - reminder about Awards evening, Friday night, tickets from Tim Barber. 
​
Thanks 
Mariana ​

Prem Playoffs
 
Another Sunday night, another busy weekend and time for another Club update, again reporting a positive end to our season! Premier League play offs are a big weekend on the netball calendar, where 20 teams play across three different groups to determine promotion and relegation between the three Premier Leagues and each Regional League.
 
We have had a roller coaster Premier League season, impacted by not having a SuperLeague franchise, player availability and long distance matches. Until the last weekend of the season, we thought we were relegated, but a win for us against Oldham and one other result meant we were in the play offs to stay in Premier League 1. This is so important for us as a Club so that we can offer that top level of competition to our members and use that to drive the performance of the rest of the club.
 
Player availability was affected (like for most teams) by our SuperLeague players mostly not being allowed to play because they had SuperLeague games. We only took 8 players on Saturday, and a young team, with Anna as coach. We got a win against Clan, who were fighting for promotion from Prem 2 to Prem 1. We had ten players for our two matches on Sunday, and Maggie travelled to Nottingham to join Anna straight after the Lightning game against Surrey Storm. We got 2 wins from 2, against The Downs and Premier Romans, securing our place in Premier 1 and giving all our club members something to aim for when they are seniors!
 
We are the only Yorkshire club with a Prem team, and it is the pinnacle of club netball, so we really didn’t want to be relegated to Prem 2. The squad played well for each other, with a mixture of some very experienced players and some young and less experienced players. Everyone took to court and everyone stepped up to play, and there was some good netball on show with players working hard and combining well. Chevrons were the only other Yorkshire club at the playoffs, playing for a spot in Premier League 3, which unfortunately they didn’t secure.
 
A few thank yous, as usual! Anna and Maggie for coaching, Becky for organising this team all season, Fran and Rochelle for capt and vice this weekend, Lauren for being capt for the rest of the season, Debbie and Emma for scoring/timekeeping, Jane for tweeting. Other parents for their support over the weekend.
 
WY Summer League
Our team in this secured the first points on the Board this weekend in this new venture that Susie and Kirsty have organised to provide opportunities for U15 and to work towards preparing for next year’s U16 Nationals – even though that feels a long way away! Thanks to Susie and Kirsty
 
Netball Nights Summer League
Matches start next week, we have two teams in this league, please watch you emails and get in touch with Susie or Mark if you want to play. Another great opportunity for our U14s and above to get good experience of senior netball to help them do better in junior competition. Thanks to Mark and Susie and Hannah for organising this.
 
Awards
19 May Thorner, contact Tim Barber if you want a ticket (email address on website). The trophies will be engraved this week, the medals for the younger players are ordered. Get your ticket and play a part in this annual event to showcase the depth and breadth of talent we have and the achievements the club has delivered.  
 
Trials and Pre-season
Trial dates will hopefully be out later this week, along with details of pre-season training probably the following week. We are looking to trial before the Summer holidays this year and on an evening rather than a weekend. This approach to trialling earlier should help with pre-season training and administration at the beginning of the season! let's hope so!
 
Netball carries on……
Although some competitions have finished, some continue. U14 are in the final stages of preparation for their Nationals competition, U12 are preparing for the Regional competition. Quite a few juniors are entering tournaments through the summer and we will keep you posted through these updates.
 
And finally….

• Quite a few of our players have played their last junior games, so good luck to them in seniors. 
• Quite a few players will leave us to go to Uni or travel etc, so good luck to everyone and keep in touch/return when you’re back to Leeds! 
• Best wishes to a number of our players who are recovering from injury, get well/fit soon and we hope to see you back on court. And GOO LUCK to all our players with exams, especially those with GCSEs and A’Levels! Go smash it! 
• a positive end to the season, suggesting that we are doing a lot of things right at the club! Thanks to those who support the running of the Club. 

 Mariana

Quick note to round off the weekend, thank goodness it is Bank Holiday for most today and a catch up day for those who have been at Nationals!  For those on social media, you’ll know yesterday was a big moment for the Club in recent years. I understand we were 3rd a number of years ago, but it is a first for me as Chair, and certainly the first for the last few years! Huge achievement for those girls and great to show what is possible and set that aspiration for our current and future juniors. It shows our approach to developing players, with a focus on a team context, is working, so a big shout out to all our coaches who work so hard. Most of you have contributed to this achievement in some way, eg coaching these kids in previous years or coaching other teams they play in eg Northern League. Big thanks to Anna though for her drive on performance.
 
We have had 25xU16 players this season who contributed to the squad qualifying for Nationals, so thanks and well done for your part in this journey.  Having a big squad has allowed most of the squad to play senior netball in order to be ready for Nationals, and also meaning that everyone got the right level of competition.  It bodes well as an approach for future years. 12 players of that U16 squad were selected for the Nationals squad and travelled to Essex for the weekend with the coaches and their families.  To show the strength and depth of the squad, who all took to the court, here are the results from the Nationals weekend where the country’s top 18 teams play out for positions 1-18 across  63 matches over two full days, each of 8 min quarters. A very strong set of mostly very convincing wins against teams from a range of regions.

• Saturday Group 1 - Win vs Ryland 41-10 & Win vs Weston Park Blades 36-10
• Saturday Group 2  - Win vs Oaksway 29-22 &Win vs Lincoln City 45-7
• Sunday Group 3 - Win vs Telstars 31-25 & Loss to Tameside 18-22
• 3/4th play-off match was a fiercely contested match vs Bury, in which we came out on top by just one goal, with a 25-24 win. Not great for the blood pressure, but a great way to finish the tournament and have to wait for the presentation ceremony. 
• The final was very close, between Eagles and Tameside, eventually being decided in extra time and Tameside coming out on top as champions again. So we had just on loss, by four goals to the eventual champions
• The other Yorkshire team, Chevrons, did well, winning some matches in their Saturday groups, losing in their Sunday group, and eventually playing against Henley for 11/12th position. They won that game in extra time to seal 11th place, well done.  

 
As ever, Nationals weekend offered a great experience and the chance for everyone to develop. Finishing with a win and a medal was incredible experience both on and off court for these youngsters, learning to work as a team, cope with pressure and enjoy themselves whilst also working very hard and being very focussed. Our coaching team of Anna and Maggie lead the girls brilliantly across the intense highs and lows of the weekend, constantly advising them but also letting them work out stuff for themselves. The squad got lots of unsolicited comments about their standard of play and their conduct, a huge credit to them as players and people and to the Club as well.  
 
Off court, we had an amazing support team, in which everyone played a role. Thanks to everyone. Although I am bound to miss someone, I am going to namecheck because it will give others a flavour of what Nationals weekend is all about. So, thanks to: Sally for sorting food & restaurants; Yvonne for sorting hotel; the dads for constant water bottle filling and carrying kit bag and ball bag; Katie Kelly for her incredible social media reporting and keeping everyone at home up to date with the results and the action – no easy task; Lucy for accurate scoring under pressure & very good present buying; Paul for photo stuff; various for Costa coffee runs and Tesco runs; and to everyone for their loud and appropriate support to their own athletes and to the whole squad from the balcony. Thanks from me, Maggie and Anna for our presents, very kind.
 
View from the bench - I was privileged to be Team Manager for the squad this weekend:  securing a birdseye view of the games; gaining insight about the subtleties of the game at this level from Anna and Maggie and being impressed about the impact they had on the level of play; honoured to see the way all 12 athletes supported each other in so many different ways on court during play and from the bench, and in between games; amazed to hear and feel the support from the balcony and on social media from home; and lucky to feel the emotion of what this achievement meant to these athletes (many of whom playing their last junior tournament)!  Unanimous feedback from players, coaches and parents was that this was a “best ever” Nationals in so many ways, so we are fortunate to have incredible memories of a special weekend spent with a great bunch of kids, families and coaches. I know that many at the Club already have those special Nationals memories, but I also hope that many more will in the coming years.
 
In other news: our U12 teams were both victorious over Allus teams as they prepare for their Regional tournament. Next up in terms of Nationals, it is our U14 who will travel to Birmingham for their tournament on the last weekend in May, so let’s get behind them. Before that, we face Premier League play offs next weekend, which will determine whether we stay in Premier League 1 or are demoted to Premier League 2. This involves a weekend trip to Nottingham to play three matches over two days. In June, our U12 will head to the Regional Tournament to do us proud and have a great experience.
 
And lastly, please buy a ticket for the Awards presentation, 19 May, Thorner. Tickets available from Tim Barber or your age group admin. Let’s make it a special night.  

Thanks
Mariana