On Saturday 18th February, Netball Scotland hosted the final of 3 Performance days at Craigholme Sports Complex in Glasgow.  On this day, we would learn who would be crowned the Champions of the newly created U17 District Performance league.

First match of the day was between Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.  This would be a true test of determination as both teams were sitting on 13 points after Days 1 and 2, with South Lanarskhire having beat Edinburgh and Renfrewshire, and drawing with Borders (55 - 55) - and Glasgow having beat Renfrewshire and Edinburgh, losing by one goal (40 - 41) to Perth and then losing also to Borders (38 - 50).  Both Glasgow and South Lanarkshire have had a number of their players involved in both National and Pathway squads this past season, and having trained together so much over the year, they knew each others play well.  After the first 15 minutes, the score was very close with Glasgow edging a one goal lead 10 - 9 at quarter time.  By the end of the half, South Lanarkshire had dug in their heels and bypassed Glasgow's lead, with the score now 20 - 23 to South Lanarkshire.

South Lanarkshire Coach Lesley Cummings must have had some inspirational words for her players as South Lanarkshire stormed ahead in the 3rd quarter winning that 15 minutes 7 - 14, edging out their lead to 10 goals (27 - 37 to South Lanarkshire).  Once again, in the final 15 minutes, South Lanarkshire seemed to much to handle for Glasgow, with Scottish National players Nicola McCleery and Katie Gallagher (South Lanarkshire's GA and GS) shooting fantastically.  The final whistle blew and the score was Glasgow 35 - South Lanarkshire 49.

Up next, was 2nd top team Perth (currently on 12 points after 4 matches) and 6th placed Edinburgh (3 points from 4 matches).  Although they put in a great performance at the U17 Play Off day at the start of the 11/12 season, Edinburgh have struggled with the Performance league due to lack of numbers.  It takes quite the team to survive full hour-long matches with only 7 players.  With Perth being a very tight unit, both in attack and defense, and were just too much for Edinburgh to slow down.  The quarter scores were;  1st 13 - 3, 2nd 11 - 9, 3rd 11 - 4, 4th 7 - 3.  Final score Perth 42 - Edinburgh 19.

The last game of the day was then between 5th placed team Renfrewshire, and league front runners Borders.  Now that Perth had secured a win, there was quite alot of pressure on Borders to do well.  Perth were sitting on 22 points after 5 matches, and Borders were on 18 points after 4 matches.  Basically, if Borders wanted to get their hands on the title.  

Even though Renfrewshire started the match with the first centre pass, at the end of the first quarter Borders had settled in to a 12 - 9 lead.  Once again, the opposition struggled with the height of the Borders players, and the speed of the ball - Renfrewshire managed to maintain 8 goals in the 2nd quarter but Borders ploughed ahead after scoring 15, the score at half time was 27 - 17 to Borders.  

The Borders team were really settled into their style of play, with renfrewshire trying to break their attack down, however the advantage of having a National athlete who trains not only with U17 Scotland players, but with U21s and with the Glasgow Wildcats (Borders GA Jo Pettitt) was too much for Renfrewshire.  Borders stormed ahead to 42 - 26 after 3 quarter time, and then to a final score of Borders 50 - Renfrewshire 30.

So, at the end of the final day - the score grid looked like this;

A very well done to all players who have powered through what has been a gruelling season with the changes Netball Scotland made to the competitions.  Not only did they have 5 full-time matches to juggle, but also the usual workload of today's average teenager with school work, studying for exams, training for Nationals, training for other sports, and heaven forbid having a social life too thrown in there!!  

Netball Scotland hope that all players, coaches and umpires enjoyed the structural changes and look forward to receiving your feedback on the competition.  We hope to continue the competition next season, however this is effectively up to those players and coaches involved.  The Youth Competitions Group will be meeting mid-May to discuss the season and all teams will be informed of the decision shortly after.

Once again, well done to all players - and to Borders for being crowned the 2011-12 U17 Performance Champions;

On Sunday 5th February 2012, the Under 17 District Performance Tier teams met once again at the Alistair McCoist Complex in East Kilbride, for Day 2 of their competition structure.  Yet again these teams were faced with the challenge of two hour-long matches.  

The results from the day were as follows;

And now, the score grid looks like this;

The teams will meet for the 3rd and final time on Saturday 18th February 2012 at the Craigholme School Sports Complex, Glasgow.  It is all to play for, and Netball Scotland are certain that these games will be a fantastic display of our best netballers at this age.

Stay tuned for the results..

Following on from the Under 17 District Play Off day which was held back in October, the top 6 teams who fought their way into the Performance Tier of this year's District competition structure met for the first of 3 competition days to be held this season, last weekend (Saturday 5th November 2011).  At Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh, the girls from Borders, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire were faced with the challenge of playing two highly competitive, hour-long matches - a mean feat for any age group!

The days play was as follows;

At the end of the day, the 'league table' sits like this..

Netball Scotland would like to thank the players, coaches, umpires and table officials who were involved in Saturday's event, as well as a massive thank you to CENA (City of Edinburgh Netball Association) for their assistance in sourcing some last minute volunteers for the day.

The next Performance Tier competition day is scheduled for Sunday 5th February and will be held at the Alistair McCoist Complex in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.  Play will start at 12.00pm with Renfrewshire v Glasgow and Perth v Borders - Edinburgh v South Lanarkshire - Perth v Glasgow - Renfrewshire v South Lanarkshire and Edinburgh v Borders finishing the day around 5.30pm.

Netball Scotland look forward to the next round of matches in February.