Bury girls turn on style to seal glory (From Bury Times)

Bury girls turn on style to seal glory

3:19pm Wednesday 1st July 2009

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YWCA Bury under-16s netball team have won the Turnford Tournament for the second year running.

The tournament, held annually in Chelmsford, Hertfordshire, hosts the best teams netball in the south has to offer but they proved no match for Bury’s talented young players.

The matches, played in a round-robin basis worked to Bury’s advantage as they were able to face all the teams in a series of nine matches.

Crucial games came early on as Bury battled it out with tournament hosts Turnford to notch an easy victory of 11-2.

They also fought hard in a close and physical match against Essex-based Star Netball Club to secure an 5-3 win.

Bury sailed through the rest of their matches, beating the likes of Oaksway, Herford Hornets and Gadeside convincingly to make them overall winners in the U16s category.

Their squad, included England U17s stars Natalie Haythornthwaite and Jodie Gibson, Ellie Townsend, who has recently progressed through the first stage of the screening process for England Talent 1, Leeds Carnegie players Sascha Eady and Francesca Robinson, and Northern Thunder Junior Superleague players Rosie Leach, Leanne Buckley, Becky Hayes and Liz Burchill. All the girls have trained hard throughout the season under the watchful eye of fitness and assistant coach Ray Robinson, and head coach Lianne Dooley who recently won the Greater Manchester Volunteer of the Year Award. The team recently narrowly missed out on the opportunity to progress to the National Clubs U16s finals, in a highly competitive North-West Region after a close defeat, in the final qualifying match to eventual winners Oldham.

Dooley said: “I’m really proud of the team and what they have achieved, particularly their attitude and perseverence after the disappointment of not reaching the National Finals, they have shown that they can bounce back from such a heartbreaking defeat.”

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