Match Day 3

Saturday 24th October 2009

After quickly recovering from the outbreak of sunstroke that had spread across camp during the previus week, most of the team was fighting fit and raring to go as soon as we got on the bus to the venue. During the journey, we picked up the ghanaian netball team who shortly started singing for mental preparation before the big game. However, the year 11 boys decided to outsing them with their ladish football chants.
We got off the bus and scuttled for the shade before limbering up.

Thankfully we had established how to start a match and exchange gifts ghanaian style – which suprisingly took a lot of practice for it to run smoothly but we cracked it.
With our first netball teams toes behind the line, we got onside and the first whistle was blown. It was clear from the first couple of minutes of play that both teams were determined to conquer their opposition and claim victory for their nation.
The midday heat and humidity had begun to effect the players but those acclimatisation days shockingly payed off and Chesham High managed to withstand the sweltering heat. With the encouraging support from the football team and the other netball team, the score at half time was 17-1 to Chesham High.

Our opposition, Peshi, had previously had only two netball practices befre challenging chesham and still had their heads up at half time. In Ghana, sport is not as important as it is in the UK because education is their main priority and helping/providing for their family comes second. Therefore sport is not as well recognised and funding for facilities and equipment is difficult. However, the combination of Peshi's netball coach,our contribution and the help of the SABRE trust is a starting point to improve the standard of extra curricular activities which will in turn contribute to the development of Ghana as a whole.

The Chesham High Ghana Sports Tour 2009 and the SABRE trust has made netball a more recognised sport and hopefully the teams that we have played against will continue playing and improving their skills.

The girls completely swapped positions in the last quarter, appart from susie which she was clearly delighted about. We continued to play some awsome netball which ran like clockwork, with the odd smash in the face which hindered the flow of play. However, both teams had a fantastic match with enormous effort put in from both sides and ended the match with a stonking score of 32-1 to Chesham High. The obama biscutis and pineapple juice was seriously appriciated by both teams before we all retreated into the shade to cool down and watch the second netball match.

The second match of the day started of with a massive outbreak of heat, and the game began when it was at its peak. This made the game so much harder to play in as the heat and humidity made the game tiring and tougher. The game started of in the same way as always with the presenting of gifts to each opposing team and lining up. Then the game began.

For the first quarter there was 10 minutes of aggressive playing by the ghanahians which was quite a shock as we should have been used to how the Ghanahians play; many of us got battered by the opposing team during the first part of the game. This quarter seemed to be the toughest quarter compared to all the other quarters as the Ghanahians put together a strong and aggressive side. The game that was played proved to us where our strengths and weaknesses were when we play netball and it also proved to us how fit we were to manage in the stealth of the heat. It also determined that we had the skills in the game, whereas the ghanahians had the pace so both teams were equally matched with strengths in the game. By the end of the first quarter the score was 2-1 to us after a ferocious intense 10 minutes had gone by.

The second quarter of the game began well with a goal scored in the first few minutes which gave everyone a boost of confidence and the game suddenly became more rapid and intense as the players in our team soon began to show a more aggressive side to their side of the game. The game also became more structured and was more organised than thje first quarter and everyone played their best to score more goals, and achieve a higher result. We were now used to how the ghanahian players played so we wernt as scared of them as we were at first, and along with the support from the other netball team and the footballers our morales soared.

By the end of this half we had scored 3 more goals, so the final score after the first half was 4-1 to us. During our break we switched positions with whoever else was playing the same position, and consumed lots of water to relieve ourselfs so we wouldnt feel ill, or be overcome with dehydration and faint or something. After the break we went straight back on to the pitch to begin the second half of the game. We began in the same intense way and followed out all our tactics and skills to perfection in the game, and this helped to improve our score. We were now so in control of what we were doing the game soon became a lot easier and along with the support everyone was giving each other it became an eventful and great game. By the end of this quarter the score was 7-1 to us, which was a good result as we only had 7 minutes to play these last quarters as the sun was going down and we had to think of the footballers games in the light not the dark.

Finally, the last quarter was about to begin. This was the most keenly contested quarter as it proved to everyone the strength and energy that we were putting into the game. The shooters improved so much and it was a joy to see how the game was playd with the balls gliding into the nets, and people always their for the rebounds ready to shoot again and score if people missed. The final score shot up, to a successful 13-1 to us with a steady pace. The result of the game put a fine boost of morales on everyone for not only had the first team won their match but also the second team as well had won too. It was a great finish for the netballers.



Football match report

Chesham's third match was their toughest yet against Redeemer Boys Football Academy. It took placeonce again at SSNT ad the weather was the hottest they had experienced playing under.

The first third started and chesham fought well against a team who were fast and knew eachother well. How ever Chesham gave them nothing ending the first third still level. The second third started, but it was clear chesham were tired ad Redeemer had decided to pick up their game. Second balls and tackles were rushed and chesham took their eye off the ball twice and were punished with two goals.

A deflated Chesham came out for the final third but their was to be no heroic come back this time as redeemer scored their third. Chesham did well close the game after that, as they came back into the game slightly. Chesham returned to the bus understandably that the team that beat them was better and to come away only beaten 3-0 showed how far Chesham had come on this trip as individuals and as a team.

Written by Paul,
poorly typed by oli,


Netball Report

Woke up at 6.30 because Dave Hill was being noisy, and so told him to shut up. Went down at 8.00 for a leisurely breakfast of scrambled egg and porridge. Mr Ofari has officially disappeared. Too much egg. After washing we headed down to the beach for sunbathing and paddling. The weather was steamy and sunny as always. At ten thirty we went for showers just after we played volleyball. Then we had lunch, which was soup, before heading off for our third fixture. We played at the first pitch where we trained on the second day of our trip and on the way we picked up the other girl's netball team.

We whipped them 32-1 at netball, the girl's second team won 13-1. Well played girl's!! The boys played Ghana's regional academy. 3-0 loss. It was a close game in which Joe Flack was the best player. We arrived home in the dark which lead to an interesting shower in the pitch black, after that we headed down to dinner, we all miss london. We all assembled around the camp fire after dinner for funny performance's and singing. The year twelve girl's pulled it off by singing their own version of 'a wim ba whey'. Year eleven boys came second with their nudity. Year eleven girl's finished third with their malarone song, which was insane. Year twelve boy's finished last, as expected, because they did jokes and scored an unbeatable score of 2 out of 60. We all headed to bed at eleven. Nighty night.

P.S. Happy 13th Birthday to Olivia Wright.