DEFEATING St Christopher’s 25-15 saw the Year 8 netball team at Maiden Erlegh School crowned COCO5 tournament winners.
It was a day the youngsters are unlikely to forget in a hurry, for they outscored their Brighton counterparts to secure glory at the Copper Box Arena in London.
The school in Silverdale Road took up an invitation to take part in a competition jointly organised by the sponsors of the Netball London Live event last Saturday and one of the teams involved – Surrey Storm – who met Hertfordshire Mavericks at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on the same day.
And in securing their place in the final, the girls had to qualify from an earlier round of the tournament held at Surrey Sports Park on February 20, where they saw off Guildford school Tormead.
Maiden Erlegh would then carry this momentum into the showdown, where the contest took place prior to the main event.
The squad of nine were soon back on the court too following their triumph, as they were invited to collect their winners’ medals during the half-time interval of the Superleague clash, where the school received a warm round of applause from the 6,000 capacity crowd.
“We are extremely proud of the girls’ achievement, it was a really enjoyable day,” said Sian Young, head of PE at Maiden Erlegh.
“The girls got to get changed in the Surrey Storm changing room, meet the players and received their medals and trophy at half-time in front of the crowd.
“We are already looking forward to next year’s season.”
Surrey Storm later defeated the Mavericks 30-24.