Tuesday 4 March – Smile when you're winning!

Current location: Erskineville, Sydney
11.11pm,Watching netball on TV. I love netball and living in Australia has enabled me to indulge my love for it. Today we had another match and it was a fab one that saw us going from four goals behind to winning by three. Yippee!

Here's the, er, 'official' match report...

• 
  

  It started at 6.32pm. With only five of Hoops there, and very few shooting skills between them, they stared into the distance, hoping against hope. Could it be? Is it possible? YES – Renee was approaching! Woop!

  Hoops started with six (GK Sarah, GD Bree, C Rianne, WA Lucy, GA Renee, GS Laura) – and went out strong. Not as strong as the other team, sadly, who quickly got a lead of a few goals before Hoops had even got the ball near their shooting circle. Oh dear. It seems Hoops underestimated these children. Yes, they were tiny, but they were quick, and pushy.

  By half-time, Hoops were down 5-1 to The Tiny, Pushy Children*. But, in a great twist of fate, Maddie and Molly had arrived, so on they went. Hoops took inspiration from the GREATEST of netball teams, the NSW Swifts, who were down at half-time and managed to win by 3 goals at the weekend. The unbeatable combo of Renee and Maddie were too powerful a force to be reckoned with and, within minutes, the gap was closing on the lead The Tiny, Pushy Children had. Bree, looking like she's always played GD, was grabbing tips and interceptions all over the place and, if a ball managed to get past her, Sarah was all over it, and caught every rebound. Working the ball up the court, Molly and Rianne were seamless, with Rianne managing endless intercepts as well as playing a very attacking game. Renee and Maddie had obviously had spinach for breakfast, with their strong, accurate shots that went almost entirely on target and, with uplifting shouts of encouragement from Laura on the sideline, we found ourselves neck and neck with a few minutes to go.

  It was The Tiny, Pushy Children's centre pass. This was getting scary. A DAZZLING interception from a player that may or may not have been WA, and a cracking goal by Maddie led to us going into the lead for the first time in the game.

  Sarah's calm, focused play made sure we kept possession and, thanks to channeling our inner NSW Swifts, we ended up three goals up as the final whistle blew. Ha! Take that, Tiny, Pushy Children!

  *Not their official name.