Netball

SCHS Junior Netballers on a winning streak!

Members of the St Catherine High Junior and Senior teams celebrate after capturing both competitions at the 2016 ISSA Open Netball Rally at the Leila Robinson Courts on Thursday. (Garfield Robinson)

Netball

St Catherine High capture Junior, Senior ISSA Open Netball Rally titles

Observer Saturday, September 17, 2016

ST CATHERINE High captured both the Junior and Senior titles at the 2016 Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Open Rally competitions at the Leila Robinson Courts, Independence Park, on Thursday.

In the Junior rally final, St Catherine beat Dinthill Technical High 5-3, while in the Senior final, they managed to hold off a determined Norman Manley High to win narrowly 4-3.

Meanwhile, the Open Rally competitions were a prelude of what is expected to come when the Junior and Senior netball season begins next week.

Phyllis Thompson, who coaches both St Catherine Junior and Senior teams, said she was delighted to have won both titles.

It’s a very good feeling to begin the season winning two titles. This was really our third training together for both teams, as we had little time during the summer holidays to get the players together until the beginning of this school term,” Thompson said.

She said this is only a start, as the Junior and Senior League competitions are expected to be much more competitive than the Rally, as the playing times in the matches are much longer, but nevertheless she was very excited about coming out on top in both sections.

“This was however, not our best playing performance, but the players went out there and played well. They worked hard and put up a good fight to come out victorious in both finals,” she added.

The St Catherine coach said she expects both the Junior and Senior Leagues should be tougher, as all the schools, some which did not participate in the rally, are to field their strongest line-ups.

Meanwhile, in the semi-finals of the Junior Rally, St Catherine defeated Norman Manley High 6-4, while Dinthill edged Camperdown High 4-3.

In the semi-finals of the Senior Rally, St Catherine beat Jose Marti Technical 8-5, while Norman Manley High defeated St Hugh’s High 6-2.

In the preliminary round of the Juniors, Camperdown topped Zone One with 15 points ahead of Eltham High with nine points; St Catherine won Zone Two with 15 points from Campion College with 12 points; Norman Manley captured Zone Three with 12 points ahead of St Hugh’s with six points.

The Seniors preliminary rounds had St Hugh’s coming out on top in Zone One with nine points ahead of Merle Grove with six points.

Zone Two was won by Camperdown with 12 points with Norman Manley second with nine points, while St Catherine won Zone Three on goal difference with seven points (20-7) ahead of Jose Marti Technical also with seven points, a goal difference of 18-10 to finish second.

The other Rural High Schoolgirls Open Rally was slated for yesterday at the Manchester High School Courts in the parish of Manchester.