NETBALL

North Zone ‘B’ Division
Singapore Sports School  vs  North Vista Secondary
Friday, 9 March 07 at Yishun Sports Hall

Match Report by Coach Dick Yip. Pictures by Leslie Tan/Red Sports and Civon Loke, a volunteer photographer. Thanks, Civon!

This long-awaited, eagerly anticipated clash for the ‘B’ Girls’ Netball title took place immediately after the Sports School ‘C’ team had clinched the North Zone title. But unlike the earlier ‘C’ final, this encounter lived up to all the excitement and mental wars that preceded the match. The battle in cyberspace was fiercely fought over a 3-day period right here on Red Sports’ live Chat Box between Ang Mo Kio Secondary and North Vista Secondary without the benefit of any umpire, rules of engagement or any guidelines of sorts. It was a real eye-opener for all of us here at Red Sports, as well as fans of the site, to have witnessed the amount of raw passion, red hot energy, die-hard loyalty and boiled-over emotions that prevailed during that turbulent but unforgettable war of mud-throwing which sensibly ended as suddenly as it had begun.

North Vista supporters cheer their hearts out. © Civon Loke

In any case, all that was forgotten as soon as the final got underway at center court. Here, from court side, is the point-for-point, blow-by-blow account of how the match shaped up right up to the final whistle.

1st Quarter:   With quick, decisive movements in their attack, Sports School took control of the early play, opening accounts with the first goal at 9:40 (time remaining on stop clock). They pressed on with the second goal coming at 9:15. At 8:52, it was 3-0 up for Sports School. North Vista replied with their 1st goal scored by  GA Pamela at 8:26. In quick succession, Sports School counte- attacked with two more goals through GS Nashita to bring the score to 5-1, at 7:20 . Despite the gap widening, the North Vista girls did not panic and concentrated on working hard to regain possession of the ball with better defensive play. It worked, as GS Christina scored her 1st goal for NV to make it 5-2 at 5:45 remaining. From a brilliant turnover, the ball was sent to Christina who made it 5-3 with 5:15 on the clock. At 4:10 and again at 3:25, GD Valerie and GK Charine combined well to cause Sports School to miss 3 attempts at goal. But GA Sonia confidently put one in to make it 6-3 at 3:12. North Vista showed their colours immediately by penetrating the very tight Sports School defensive cordon to narrow the gap with another goal by GS Christina Koh, making it 6-4 at 2:54. With 2:27 on the clock, Sports School put in their last goal by GA Sonia to lead 7-4. Determined to get one back, North Vista girls cleverly held on to the ball, waited for teammates to make space before releasing the ball which ended up with GS Christina who made it 7-5 with 1:00 remaining. In the final minute North Vista wasted a golden chance to make it six points as GS Christina missed. The same thing happened at the other end as Sports School missed a sitter in the dying seconds.

Sports School’s Melody Teo in action during the final. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports.

2nd Quarter:    NV started this period positively with good play from Captain Yeo Mei (C) distributing play to WA Daphne and WD Min Hui that resulted in the first goal of this quarter scored by GS Christina at 9:34, bringing the scoreline to a 1 point deficit, 7-6. This spooked the Sports School girls into raising their game in response. With 9:00 remaining, they made it 8-6, and were fortunate that North Vista had another costly miss at goal. Presented with the chance at 8:15, Sports School converted and the score was 9-6. Despite the scoreline, North Vista’s defence stood firm,  with the GD and GK combining remarkably well to thwart many of the attacking moves in their D. It was evident that NV was challenging for every ball and pressing Sports School into committing mistakes in their passing and play. Against the run of play, Sports School scored to make it 10-6 at 7:30. Then they committed another four errors in a row but North Vista could not capitalise as many of the high lobs to tall GS Christina were effectively cut off by the impressive alertness of  Sports School’s GD, Melody Teo. With the clock running down to 4:40, North Vista’s GD Valerie, who was playing with a bandaged up knee, slumped to the floor. The NV bench signalled for a timeout to allow their GD to be attended to. When play resumed, North Vista made a couple of switches in players’ roles as a result of Valerie’s injury. Sports School took advantage of the changes to pull ahead to 12-6 at 4:04.  North Vista fought back tenaciously to score 2 more with 1:10 left., bringing the score to 12-8. They pressed on and was rewarded with another goal to bring the score to 12-9 with 1:00 remaining. But Sports School had the last say as the period ended with a goal coming in the remaining seconds to make it 13-9.

3rd Quarter:    Up to now, both sides had provided the packed gallery with a fast tempo game that was filled with many moments of brilliant play, numerous missed chances and some glaring passing errors. As play restarted, Sports School again surged ahead to 14-9 with a goal at 9:25. They had two huge misses at 8:25 which allowed North Vista to close the gap at 8:00 with a goal by Christina. Score: 10-14. With 7:30 remaining, Sports School made it 15-10. For the next four minutes, with their rivals led by Centre Samantha (capt) and superb domination by WA Suhaila,  North Vista failed to get the ball past the centre third. WA Suhaila made good use of several "dummy" passes to get the ball to her GS who obliged with goal number 16 at 5:00. Score: 16-10. Then North Vista upped their game with solid defending again and counter-attacked strongly with GS Christina scoring at 3:40 and then another a minute later by their GA to reduce the deficit to 16-12.  With 1:55 remaining on the clock Sports School made it 17-12. NV charged forward and got the ball to the basket at 1:35 but their large contingent of supporters groaned as their goal attempt missed. From a turnover, they got another chance at 1:10. This time, GA did not miss and made it 17-13. Again, SSP had the last say as they put in the another one to close this period with a score of 18-13. 

The North Vista bench cheer on their team mates on court. © Civon Loke. 

4th Quarter:   When play resumed, Sports School continued to press on with their style of play with their rivals matching them stride for stride. They dealt the first blow in this final quarter at 9:07 with a goal to make it 19-13. A minute later, they  missed two beautiful chances. At 7:25, North Vista replied with another morale-boosting goal to make it 19-14. In a fantastic rally, they got the ball back at 6:50 and GS Christina made the score 19-15. Both sides were giving their all in these closing stages of the game. Sports School got through at 6:45 to make it 20-15. North Vista’s substitute GK Pamela was outstanding in goal, breaking up many Sports School goal-scoring chances. With 6:00 remaining, North Vista had a huge miss but GS Christina converted for the next goal at 5:20 to make it 20-16. Sports School’s Nashita then made it 21-16 at the 4:00 mark. Desperately defending and attacking, North Vista’s ‘C’ had an injury which led to another timeout at 2:16. Nearing the 1:00 mark, Sports School scored again to make it 22-16. With less than a minute remaining, they put in their last goal 23-16.  With the crowd cheering them on in the dying seconds of this thrilling match, the North Vista girls this time had the last say as their leading shooter Christina made it 23-17 with a final goal.

"Mine! No, Mine!" © Civon Loke

With the final score of 23-17, SSP emerged as the clear winner of this tough, challenging battle. NV can hold their heads high as they clearly showed that their netball standard and technical skills were pretty close to that of their rivals.They demonstrated that they could take as much as they gave. In one critical aspect, Sports School was clearly ahead and that factor was their superior conditioning and fitness.  That factor by itself was a major reason that Sports School remained on top through out the game.  As their coach Robin Manihera told me after the game, "The North Vista girls played really well. They managed to rattle our girls into making numerous mistakes and had some very good play of their own.Our girls were lucky to have survived on their superior fitness alone."

Sports School’s coach Robin Manihera rally the girls to hold back the North Vista attack. © Civon Loke

At the end of the game, it was really a joy to see both sets of players in genuine and sincere exchanges of handshakes, hugs and compliments. After all, this is what sports is  about. This is what sports should be.

Hugs, handshakes and smiles were the order of the day after the game. © Civon Loke

Editor: Hi. If we have only mentioned your position but not your name, please let us know and we’ll update the report. Same goes with the picture captions. Thanks!

More picture highlights after the prize giving ceremony. All pictures © Civon Loke.