Year 8 county netballer meets inspiring England players

My Experience as a Ball Girl – by Maisy V., Year 8

On Friday 25 January I was invited to a Vitality Super League Netball match between Loughborough Lightening and Saracens Mavericks (Hertfordshire). I am one of eight girls who currently participate in the Cambridgeshire County Academy netball performance programme. We were invited to support Saracens Mavericks to take part as Ball Girls for the match.

When we arrived at the University of Hertfordshire, I was extremely excited as I knew we were going to meet the team before the match, and this meant I would get to meet some of my favourite England players! (Kadeen Corbin, Sasha Corbin, Georgina Fisher, Lindsey Keable).

We were waiting in the main reception for about 30 mins and then we were taken into the Mavericks dressing room where I got the chance to ask questions and talk to the players. They were all friendly, funny and really down to earth people and they told us about what they do before matches and what age they started playing.

After this we went back to the reception and waited for our briefing of what we had to do. Then it was a mad dash to get on court and ready for the opening ceremony. We were all given black Mavericks T-shirts so that we all looked the same.

Once we finished the opening ceremony and got into our spaces, the game started. From the view that I got I could see, from a close perspective, how hard they were working.

There were 4 quarters of 15 minutes in the match and we rotated clockwise each quarter. The game was very exciting and fast paced. The players were very focused and highly skilled in every move they made. There was huge team spirit and I could tell the players were close friends both on and off the court. 

In the arena it is very hot and all the girls playing got very sweaty, as did the floor. So, when they fell over, I had to clean up the sweat with a towel! Also, when the balls went off the court the 7 other girls and I had to collect the ball depending on who it was closest to.

In the end the score was 61:54 to Mavericks. We waited for a while after the match to meet the girls and I even had my netball signed by the Mavericks team players! I am exteremly grateful for this expereince and I really hope to be on the court playing at this level in the future.