OK, so it turned out that I was wrong about the netball season for the women's team being over, they split the division in half so we ended up getting into the finals which amazed us all. We played the team we played against most of the time (every time we played them it was always pretty close but we had never actually won against them), again it was a very close game but even more so this time as we ended up having a draw. Due to it being a final we couldn't end on a draw so it went into extended time, the pressure was on but our team couldn't quite handle the intensity of it all and ended up losing by 3 goals. Despite losing it was a really good game and one we were quite happy to end the season with.
During the week we were yet again surprised to find out that the season still wasn't over for us and that we would be playing in the grand final! It turned out that team that was meant to be playing the team we lost against all pulled out as they all decided it would be better to go to the Pink concert instead, so we would have to play that team again. The day of the grand final came and everyone was really excited and pumped for the game, as we would have never thought we would ever make it to the grand final winning only one game. We all excitedly put our bibs on and got into our positions waiting for the other team to do so and for the game to begin. However, the other team were just sitting on the bench as it turned out that some of their players didn't rock up, leaving them with only 4 players when the minimum required is 5. The umpires gave them 5 minutes to try and find another player or else they would have to forfeit the game as it was the grand final. The other team frantically made phone calls trying to bring in another player at the last second, the 5 minutes ran out and still they had no fifth player so our team were declared the winners of the grand final. Our team were all pretty happy to hear this news and thought it was quite humorous that we had only ever properly won one game, miraculously got into the finals, got into the grand final by default and then won by default, classic!
Even though we had won the grand final we weren't quite satisfied as we had all psyched ourselves up for the game so we decided that it would be good to have a scratch match, the other team were good sports about the whole situation and agreed to the scratch match with Sarah (Alex's sister) playing for them. It was a good relaxed game, I got play shooter which was a bit a of change from my usual positions in defence which was fun and afterwards there was a presentation and our team were given blue water bottles that said Premiers on them. I kinda felt bad for the other team because they were only given small red water bottles that said runner-up but I suppose at least they got something.
Well anyway, now on to Chocolate Thunder... We have now played four games, it is lots of fun probably even more fun than women's netball and each game is always quite entertaining. We aren't overly good and haven't won any games yet but we are still getting used to the whole mixed netball thing and sorting out positions, mixed netball is quite a lot faster than women's so that means we are constantly moving. After the first game, Seth Mutton who was our backup enjoyed playing and now plays every game which is handy because Dane isn't available most of the time due to mutual. We have had one training but not everyone could make it and we didn't really take it as seriously as we could have, but yeah I guess we'll have to work on that. I now play in goals as GS or GA most of the time as none of us can really shoot which is probably one of our downfalls but I am slowly getting the hang of it. The last game we played was at 9:30 so Dane was able to play, this was probably our best game yet as we all worked well, my shooting was probably the best that is has been so far and the score was actually sort of close, although we did learn that because we didn't have a scorer the other team automatically got 5 goals put onto their score. So yeah we just have to get a scorer, figure out all our positions and maybe have another practice and I'm sure we'll improve and maybe even be able to win a game...if not then it doesn't matter too much because it is lots of fun.
