On Tuesday 26th March, Burgate welcomed twelve Netball teams from both the Burgate and the Downton Cluster of Primary Schools to take part in the annual Primary ‘Hi-Fives’ Netball Festival. Participants arrived to bright sunshine as the event began with a Coaching Master-class, led by our very own Year 9, 10 & 11 specialist Netball Leaders.

 

Each team of children then rotated through each of the different activities, which focused on a different key skill required in the game. With the coaching complete, it was then time for the teams to put their newly learnt skills into practice. Teams were split into two ‘Super-leagues’ where they then played 8 minute matches against all other teams in the pool. Fair play awards were given in honour of excellent sportsmanship to Western Downland B Team and Morgans Vale and Woodfalls Team. When the games were complete, the winners and runners up from each group then qualified to be invited back to Burgate for the Play-Off Finals.

 

This event took place yesterday in the Burgate Sports Hall after a day of torrential rain! With all six matches being action packed, the tension and competitive spirit really were electric. Breamore and Hale both dominated throughout the competition and so consequently, it all came down to the final game: the Breamore v Hale derby! After a closely fought battle, Breamore really came into their own and emerged with a convincing 3-1 victory against Hale when the final whistle was blown.

 

We saw a huge array of talent during the afternoon and the event would not have been possible without the fantastic Burgate Sports Leaders, who once again did us proud by taking on either coaching, organisational or officiating roles throughout both afternoons. There was an amazing atmosphere throughout both of these afternoons and it was a real pleasure to see such a fantastic turnout of teams taking part.