THE SUMMER 2012 - Millthorpe School York

OFFICIAL CHAMPIONS
On 26 and 27 May, two current and four ex-students were invited to be officials at the European
Netball Championships which took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. All of the
officials already hold the England Netball Match Bench Officials qualifications however they were
offered an opportunity to train up on the new International paperwork with the objective that they
go forward to achieve their International qualification. Students attended a course on the morning of
the tournament and were immediately put to the test in the first match of the day – England v Wales.
Roles included timekeeper (including umpire stoppages, injuries and intervals) scoreboard operator,
scorers and shooting statistics, including percentages.
All roles require lots of concentration and they were all brilliant, with comments being passed by all
team managers about how wonderful it was for young people to be involved in the officials side of
the sport.
The highlight of the day came when the girls took to court to have their photos
taken with some of their netball heroes – England shooter Pamela Cookey,
Rachel Dunn and Rachel Shaw.
NETBALL ACADEMY
Congratulations to several of our students who recently completed a Netball Academy at York St John
University. This was a joint initiative between the University and Millthorpe School aimed at
developing specific netball fitness, rather than just focusing on skills and team play. The Academy was
organised and run by three Year Three students at St John’s who ran structured sessions in the fitness
suite for core stability, along with circuits designed to improve speed, quickness and agility. The
course was supervised by Professor Andy Smith who also took the students on a tour of the
biomechanics and physiology laboratories. I would like to express my thanks to Professor Smith and
the students from York St John’s for a brilliant opportunity.