Mavs April Update
And here we are again at the end of another month. How is it possible that we’re in May already? We were playing New Year Tournaments yesterday! Anyway, as April has whizzed by, here’s a recap of what we’ve been up to in case you blinked and missed anything…
April got off to a great start as we played a friendly against Rushmoor NC as part of their preparations for a Regional decider. We’re happy to say the practice helped and Rushmoor retained their league place!
A few days later, the Mavs were back on court for an afternoon of friendly fun with Surrey Hurricanes and Unicorns Netball Club. This was such a great run out, with lots of Mavs getting their first caps for the club. We tried out some new combinations, put some of the things we’d been working on in training into practice and just had a fantastic time with two brilliant clubs. Afternoons like this are exactly why we play…
After a little rest, we hit our BIG weekend - a Saturday men’s match against the awesome London GIANTS and then a Sunday mixed fixture with Devon Dynamites. This was the perfect time for our splendid new Flyhawk kit to arrive and we think you’ll agree, it looks rather brilliant…
Mavs Men put in an incredible performance against GIANTS, who fielded a very strong team for the match. Mavs never stopped working through the game and some brilliant passages of play saw us end close enough to take a point from GIANTS, something no other team has managed yet this season. Credit to everyone and congratulations to Jacob Kirby who was chosen as Player of the Match by GIANTS.
Sunday’s road trip saw us meet Devon Dynamites and again, this was an excellent performance from the Mavs who scrapped hard in the final quarter, bringing the score back to see us bag two league points from the fixture. Mavs on court, and those on the sidelines, gave it everything and again, club debuts and new combinations saw us head home happy, particularly after Mavs II took the honours in the friendly that followed the league fixture. Congratulations to Chloe Reschwamm from Mavs I and Hannah Trickey in Mavs II who were recognised as Player of the Match in their respective games. Craig Lenane and debutante Kelsey Dawes also picked up the Mavs of the Match titles, both very well deserved.
And to round up the rest of our news…
Jacob, Connor and Tam had a great day supporting Kelly from Surrey Hurricanes with a fundraising tournament she had organised to raise money for service dog charity, Pensions 4 Paws. Kelly’s hard work raised over £1200 for this worthy cause.
We’re still unbeaten in the Reading Mixed League and so many Mavs have had the opportunity for some extra midweek match play. We’ve seen defenders in attack, shooters in defence and even one of our players borrowing trainers from another to take to court. Tuesday teamwork for the win!
We’ve had our places for EMMNA Nationals confirmed and we’ll be taking two teams, a men’s squad and a mixed squad, to Loughborough in August. Exciting times ahead.
And we’ve lined up more tournaments and friendlies over the next few months to help us prepare for August. Phew, it’s been a busy month and May looks like it will be even busier!
Photos: Rushmoor match and Mavs Squad by Hayley Bavin, GIANTS and Mavs match by London GIANTS