Condover Hall 2024
Every year, a group Year 8 netballers travel to Condover Hall to take part in a two-day tournament. The trip combines teamwork, fun and comradery. Read the report from Seren below:
“We started the trip with a long but entertaining bus ride. The mixture of songs kept us all going whilst stuck in a steady stream of traffic. We arrived late in the afternoon and were shown to our dorms. On Friday evening we explored the grounds and had a delicious dinner. After dinner, we were all really keen to take part in the activities.
Firstly, we did laser games which was super fun, then we discovered tunnelling, a game where we all went inside a realistic cave-like structure which I think was everyone’s favourite. Lastly we tried the ‘Grid of Stones’ which was a bit confusing as you had to memorise a pattern and then get from one side of the room to the other without going wrong.
All in all, the activities were great fun and we were ready for the days ahead as a team. The other highlight of the evening was stopping off at the tuck shop for ice cream, which is great pre-match food!
We all woke up early on Saturday morning raring to go and following a full English breakfast, we were excited for the day ahead.
We were slow to get going on the Netball court with a close game against Francis Holland school before meeting the outstanding team of the day, Withington Girls.
We finished the first day with two strong and convincing wins against the Maynard School and St George’s Ascot. Everyone in the Headington Rye team gave their all and we showed a great deal of team spirit throughout. At the end of the first day, we found out that we’d made it through to the Cup tournament.
Later that day, we had professional photos taken of us which was a really cool thing to do and put everyone in high spirits feeling like celebrities! That evening we had a lovely dinner as a team discussing the day’s events. Activities that night were awesome including high ropes, rock climbing and more.
On Sunday morning we woke up to rain and thunder which sadly led to the cup tournament that day being cancelled.
We were lucky that the rain held off long enough for us to have a friendly match vs Lady Eleanor which we won 8-7. We also had a talk about umpiring which was really informative and was helpful for all our questions.
Some of us took part in a netball shooting class but a number of other activities were open, so we all had fun.
The weekend was a great trip and I know all of us will cherish the memories we shared as a team together for a long time.”
