We were feeling bright and bubbly on the night of our first match of the tournament against Bulleen. At the same time, you could feel the nerves in the atmosphere as many of us hadn’t practised over the holidays. Throughout the whole game, despite our lack of practice, we demonstrated natural teamwork and used screens and kept strong defence. Bulleen put up a fight, using a ‘man under the 3’ defence, but we managed to have the game under our belt, which meant a  finishing result of 10-19 in our favour.

The second match against Ringwood was a lot tougher because they played a similar game to us. By half time, the opposition was winning 8-4 because of a few lucky shots. A Mexican wave by the parents and a dance from Chris got us hyped up for the second half. Unfortunately, Ringwood had this game, but we didn’t lose hope for the upcoming games.

The next 2 games against Camberwell and Keilor tested our ability to adapt to different defences. We used different plays such as doubles, high, flat, cross, up, slash and more. We didn’t go home devastated because we knew that we had only given away 8 points in the last 3 games. Every single game was so nail-bitingly close, and we had the skill to beat them.

Our next game against Waverly 4 was nerve-racking for us because we didn’t want to lose to a team younger than us. Waverly 4 were a strong team and played very well, considering their age. After a relief win by us, we realised that there was still much to improve on, in our game.

It was essential to win the next game if we wanted a chance in the finals. We played Collingwood and gave everything we had. They were very good shooters, so we knew we had to play tight defence. After many foul shots, controversial calls, great rebounds and consistently running up and down the court, we managed to have the upper hand on this game. In the last seconds of the match, you could hear everyone screaming from the sidelines ‘Hold it!’ meaning hold the ball and just pass around. Luckily, our determination prevented Collingwood from winning.

After winning 3 matches and losing 3, we weren’t sure if we had made it into the finals. When the results finally came in, to our disappointment, Ringwood had made it to the semi’s because of 2 points. We were devastated at the thought that we were so close to making it in, but proud of ourselves for trying our best and winning 3 games. There was one other bonus: We could chill out and have a sleepover.

                                                Written by Emily Eager & Caitlyn Shinnie

                                                (Waverley Falcons under 16 2s)