Netball fun for youngsters at Gainsborough schools

High 5 is the popular and fun version of the sport, specially designed for U11s. And the primary schools of St George’s, Parish, Scotter and Morton took part in matches against each other to get to know how to play, enjoy themselves and make new friends. It also helped them with their fitness.

The competition was organised by Pembroke Academy, lead school of the Cherry Willingham School Sports Partnership, and it was hailed as a big success by one of the teachers involved, John Anderson, of Parish.

Mr Anderson said: “All the schools seemed to thoroughly enjoy playing this form of netball. By the end, there were some excellent individual and team skills on show.”

One of the Parish youngsters, Rupert Street, said he really enjoyed the day. “It was great fun,” he said. “It had taken us a few sessions at lunchtimes with Mr Anderson to learn the rules, but we won all our games, so the training paid off.”

High 5, which is for boys and girls, allows up to five players on court at one time. They can rotate positions, enabling them to adapt to different roles. Off-court players take on jobs such as timekeeping and scoring, so everyone in each team is involved and engaged all the time.

All the children who took part in the competition received certificates.