A team of players from Monmouth Netball club travelled up the M50 to be part of the Evesham Festival of Sport.

The festival hosted a Netball Tournament at Evesham High School which saw some incredibly high standards of netball being played.

Teams involved ranged from club to regional and even a couple of England National Premier League players, all competing against each other before the tournament was split into cup and plate.

Monmouth started the tournament against tough opposition, a West Midlands regional team, Evesham Whites.

Centre court player Vanessa Ball stepped into the role as Goal Attack and Beth Chandler, usually Goal Keeper, at Goal Shooter.

With Monmouth defending well, the experienced Evesham side struggled to find the net, but in the second half got into their stride and Monmouth lost their first game 11-three.

Newly-formed shooting duo Ball and Chandler settled their nerves in the second match and shot well to beat Vale Vipers seven-two.

As the tournament progressed, the Monmouth team gelled together, competing well against another regional team Bournville.

Team captain Caroline Owens managed to defend the shooters well for much of the game but Bournville had the added height advantage to grab the rebounds that she had created.

After three hours of netball, Monmouth finished mid-table and went into the knock out stages of the Plate.

For full story see Beacon 24/08/11.