By REDintern Sherry Lim

Singapore Sports School,Saturday, December 4, 2010 — Singapore Sports School finish fifth and eighth in the Third International Youth Sports Challenge, a netball tournament for players under the age of 16.

The junior team of Singapore Sports School finished eighth after losing 15-31 to Nga Tawa of New Zealand in the seventh and eighth placing match.

In another match, their seniors made a strong comeback in the second half to grab fifth, after defeating Australia’s Newcastle 30-29, in the fifth and sixth placing match.

Newcastle took an early 9-6 with their Goal Shooter, Clare Youngman, contributing six goals with a hundred per cent accuracy. SSP1 tried to keep up but four missed shots left them trailing.

Newcastle had zero misses during the second quarter to lead 20-16, with Clare again contributing seven successful attempted shots.

However, the Singapore girls managed to keep their cool in the third quarter and tie it up 25-25 with swifter attacks, with the number of goal attempts doubling that of Newcastle’s. Shooters Nur Athirah and Georgina contributed a total of nine goals to put the team back in contention.

It all came down to the final quarter as both teams’ shooters made the same number of attempts. However, SSP1 managed to score one more than their rivals to win 30-29.

When asked to comment on the successful comeback, Singapore Sports School’s captain Nur Athirah said: “The important thing is to focus on the game itself and not be bothered by the scores during the match. The team did well in this sense and defended strongly till the end.”

Singapore Sports School’s coach Robin Manihero summed up their performance: ” I’m quite pleased about today’s match. We lost to Newcastle the previous year and it’s great to be able to win it back.The teams put in a lot of effort and i guess the exposure to different playing styles came together and prepared them for today. It was just a one point difference but nonetheless a hard fought one.”

Coach Manihero also added: “Our girls’ standard of play has definitely increased throughout this whole tournament. I see their skills improving. They are mentally tougher and physically prepared to meet tougher tournaments. They are fighting hard to match expectations, be it from themselves or those around. Playing with foreign teams exposes them to different styles and allows them to explore further styles of play.”

The Netball International Youth Singapore Challenge came to a close with Team Barrakura coming in first and Bukit Jalil in the first runner-up position.

Final Ranking
1. Barrakura
2. Bukit Jalil
3. Rostenberg
4. Monument
5. Singapore Sports School 1
6. Newcastle
7. Nga tawa
8. Singapore Sports School 2
9. Brunei
10. Hong Kong
11. Thailand