Brean 2010
Posted by on 10 May 2010
Congratulations to the Brean team 2010, who returned from the netball weekend at Pontins, Brean Sands after achieving 5th place out of a starting line up of 108 teams.
The A team, plus coach Nikki and Becki Gaiger, travelled down to Pontins on Friday evening to take up residence in the high class chalets at this well-known resort for the stars. Pleasantly surprised at the fact there were enough chairs for everyone AND hot water (well, after we'd found the right switch), we wandered out to enjoy the delights of Pontins on Friday night; the dance floor was still sticky and Becky still lost all her money on the slot machines - not a lot changes from year to year!
Saturday's cold and rainy matches were delayed by - wait for it - oil on the courts (?!) plus a nasty injury to another team, so we didn't finish playing until nearly 7pm. But it was a good day's play. Becky even met an old friend on court (not joking - they last played against each other in the 1980s!). By the end of the day, we had placed second in our group, losing only to Whyteleafe A, meaning we were in the cup competition on Sunday. Taking the decision that smelly was marginally more acceptable than unfed, we went straight across to the restaurant for a very welcome meal and then collapsed back in the chalets for a night in front of the telly.
Up bright and early on Sunday, we won our group, and went forward to the knockout stages. Our first challenge was to meet Whyteleafe A again, but we reversed Saturday's result and beat them, earning ourselves a place in the quarter-finals. There we faced the very tall Pips Ladies A; playing our socks off, we held them to a 7-7 draw at full time, only to lose in extra time, to be placed in fifth position overall.
Despite the weather it was another awesome Brean weekend - special thanks to our Team Coin Tosser, Lou, who was too young to play (ahhhhh!) but did a magnificent job keeping track of our matches, winning all but one of the tosses all weekend, and generally knowing where we were going to be and getting us there on time; and to Becki, whose frustration knew no bounds as she was confined to the sidelines but who will definitely be there next year!
