5th class Brigids Girls v Belgrove Girls
IWA 8th March at 2.30
On Wednesday afternoon we had 14 5th class girls in a changing room of the Irish Wheelchair association in Clontarf . They were changing into their gear to play their first ever basketball match representing their school. We had hair being braided, numbers being swapped, shorts being rolled up and all accompanied by a high pitched squeal! Coach Turner thought to herself "I hope they keep this energy for the whole match"...and that they did!
First quarter we went down 2-0 and were unlucky with a few of our shots. Second quarter these ladies kept their heads and popped in 6 baskets in the blink of an eye. Belgrove did really well in the third and scored 3 great baskets. We still had the lead going into the 4th. Belgrove started to apply pressure defence. Their coach called a timeout which gave us a good opportunity to chat about keeping calm and not rushing. We came out and scored 2 quick outside shots that had our fans jumping for joy. The final whistle blew, the squeals returned, both teams shook hands and we celebrated our win!
St Brigids 6th v Belgrove C
Monday 27th February kick started our basketball league. Our 6th class team stepped out onto the court in the IWA to play our local rivals Belgrove.
1st quarter Belgrove got off to a great start. Our girls were nervous and needed to find their feet...literally, as we looked like we had lead in our boots!
We trailed by 3 baskets coming into the 2nd quarter. The next five came on and worked hard to have us leading by 1 point at the half. A quick pep talk was given and the girls were ready. In the 3rd quarter we jumped a little further ahead by playing tough defence as Belgrove were fast and moved the ball very well hitting the open girl with the pass.
The 4th quarter Belgrove made a run, our Brigids girls kept their cool and didn't panic....much!. The final whistle blew, the game was over! "Did we win?", one player asked coming into the huddle. It was close but we got the win. For some girls it was their first real basketball match and they did a great job. Only mess up of the match was the coach forgot to take a team picture but she promises to work on that and improve for next time! Oops!
