It was an early start for the intrepid tourists as we all met at NWK College at 8.30am on Wednesday morning. Obviously too early for Emma, who realised (just as the doors to the coach were about to shut) that she had brought her dad’s passport instead of her own. Knowing that there was no way she was going to carry that off at Border Control, her panicked parents zoomed back to Orpington and then hurtled down the M20 to meet us at the services. Despite this, thanks to our non-nonsense driver James, we still made it onto an earlier than scheduled ferry crossing. The crossing was uneventful (phew) so we were soon on our way through the French countryside getting to know our coach-mates who were both from strong South region clubs – Woodley and Trinity Oxford.

Thanks to James we were the first to arrive at the Davy Crockett ranch, our home for the next 4 nights. Our sleeping accommodation was cabins in the woods (causing some of the girls to start winding each other up about horror films – Sophie definitely being the jumpiest!), four to a cabin and after a short time to unpack we wandered down to the ranch tavern and shop for a mooch about (and to buy more unnecessary food). Being the first ones there it was lovely and quiet and we were greeted by Mickey Mouse, the photo opportunity of the day. Back in the cabins, the girls had to fend for themselves and cook some pasta (shock horror) and then into bed ready for a big day on Thursday.

The next morning it became clear that some of the team were better than others in the morning as the breakfast delivery at 7.00am was obviously a shock to many! However we were soon ready and off to the venue for our first matches and there was a huge group warm up to music with all the teams before the serious business of the day got underway. With a squad of 12 it is sometimes hard to get everyone court time, but the squad were so adaptable it didn’t seem to matter which 7 were on court – they still turned in great performances.

The first match was against Eston Park Academy and it became clear that they were very inexperienced as the starting 7 of Ellie, Emily, Maria, Lola, Sophie, Devon & Skylar were simply too hot to handle, taking a 21-0 lead at half time. A raft of changes saw Jess, Meg, Amelia, Lola, Liv, Emma and Skylar on for the second half and they performed equally well to take out the match 35-0. The second match against Red Maids School A saw almost the same combinations played other than Emma replacing Skylar for the second half. This time Club looked a little bit dopey (luckily the rest of the seven dwarves were nowhere to be seen), however it was still a comfortable 18-4 win.

The third match saw yet more different combinations and was by far the best performance on court. Meg & Emily started together in the shooting circle, with Amelia, Lola & Sophie in the centre court and Devon & Skylar in defence. Polham Hall were no slouches but Club were simply superb in this match, leading 17-0 at half time. At the break Emily & Jess came in to shoot with Maria taking the C bib, Liv at WD, and Emma and Devon teaming up in defence. Beautifully timed moves into the straight line channel from defence to attack showed just how slick the team can be, and a fierce all court defence meant that Club were always in control and took out the win 27-4 against a Polham Hall side who were much better than the scoreline suggests.

With a bit of a break, Club went outside into the blazing sunshine to take part in a series of skills challenges involving two shooting drills, a standing high jump & broad jump, the plank, quick footwork on a zigzag, accurate passing and figure of eight ball round the legs. All of the girls did well, and Lola Wheeler showed her determination in the plank challenge (with the help of her teammates telling fibs about how long she had been going) to ensure that she beat the longest time!

However it was soon time to concentrate again as we had to face Trinity B (our coach-mates), who were also unbeaten in the group and clearly a very strong team. Ellie, Meg and Amelia started together again in attack and showed a good understanding of each other as they patiently worked the ball to goal. Lola led from the middle, playing C for the whole match and she worked equally hard in attack (great moves to the top of the circle) and defence (super interceptions). Emma and Skylar did a good job of containing the Trinity shooters and with Sophie tracking well at WD it was 5-5 at half time. The change in defence was seamless as Devon came on to GD and Liv to WD, and Trinity again were restricted to 5 goals. In attack Emily, Jess and Maria all came on strong and with strong hands on the ball and accurate shooting we took the win 14-10. This meant we had topped our group on day 1 and were through to the U14 Showdown section on Saturday.

Tired but happy we zoomed back to the ranch for a quick shower and then it was time for Disney fun. We went into the Walt Disney Studios park and most made a beeline for the Tower of Terror and the Rock’n’Rollercoaster – as if we hadn’t all had enough adrenaline for the day. After about 5 hours in the park we were back at the ranch and ice bags were pulled out of the freezers for all the niggles, before retiring for a well-deserved sleep!

Day 2 saw a bit of a lie in (8.00) but Cabin 1130 (Emma, Devon, Liv, Maria) were still the hardest to rouse. The lure of more fun at Disney soon got everyone going and today it was straight to the main Disneyland Park (and Space Mountain – yeay!). Several hours later, after lunch it was back onto coach 29 and off to the netball venue for some coaching and to meet the England players. First off it was time for another warm up to music, and remembering the dance off from last year, the team quickly thought up some moves. With other groups all a bit shell shocked and clinging together, our girls took centre stage with the worm (see our Twitter feed @kcnc1949 for the video) – or if you are Chantal and from the ‘80s, the caterpillar. This went down a storm and Club were definitely the centre of the fun and novel moves throughout the rest of the dance off!

Once everything had calmed down, we moved outside to complete the skills tests and were lucky enough to be joined by Rachel Shaw (England and Yorkshire Jets GA), who was really lovely. She joined in the chaotic game of circle ball which did involve a lot of balls flying everywhere, much laughter, and Jess “Foghorn” Clark bossing everyone, including poor Rachel, around! Soon it was time to go back into the hall where the girls were lucky enough to get a shooting masterclass with Rachel Dunn (England and Surrey Storm GS) who was really good with both the shooters and non-shooters! We joined together with Brentwood Bobcats and played some good invasion games under the guidance of the London & SE Regional Academy (West) coach, finished off with some versatility matches. At the end of an exhausting day, we were just leaving to get the coach when Maria appeared with blood pumping out of her head! One of the coaches had whacked the toilet door into her and there was a vast amount of blood. Luckily after some pressure was applied, it turned out to be quite a small cut, so no visit to the hospital necessary! Safely back at the ranch we all ate dinner together in the Ranch Tavern, including a jelly eating contest which turned into a “construct the tallest tower from empty jelly pots” contest between Jess and Devon.

It was back to the early start for Day 3 and the business end of the netball! It was all knockout play today and our quarter final match was against another of our coach-mates Woodley. Ellie and Meg looked a little surprised to be handed the shooting bibs to start but their performances so far meant the coaches had full faith and this was repaid by their determination and great shooting under pressure (cool customers!). Amelia and Lola combined really well in attack, using the space well, with one going to the corner and one to the top of the circle. In defence, Sophie and Emma marked tightly but were dithering when we had the ball so Skylar was struggling to get the ball out of the defensive end, with Lola having to do a huge amount of work. At half time we thought we were 10-6 down but the scorers had 12-6 – how?!? They definitely hadn’t scored 6 more than us! Time for some changes and Emily came on at GS with Jess at GA and Maria at WA. In defence, Liv replaced Sophie at WD and Devon came on to GD. The fightback began with Jess and Emily making strong moves which threw the defenders. The speed of Maria and Lola through court helped to get the ball to the attack quickly, and when opportunities went astray, the whole front court defence was huge. At the other end, Liv put good pressure over the pass and Devon and Skylar managed to get the shooters on the backline, which made things very difficult for the Woodley attack. Club stormed into the lead and only allowed Woodley to score 3 goals this half, and as we scored 11, we took the win 17-15.

Onto the semi-final and we were up against Cheadle Hulme School who we hadn’t seen play, so we were not sure how tough they would be. The same starting seven were trusted to go out again, and the attack did struggle with the very good Cheadle defence. Luckily Sophie was on a one-woman mission to get every ball that got anywhere near the Cheadle attack and must have taken about 10 interceptions. Meg took a tumble and with ankles hurting was replaced with Jess but we were struggling to get the ball out of the centre court. Good defence in the circle from Skylar and Emma won the ball back on several occasions, but we weren’t making the most of our opportunities. At half time the score was 6-2, reflecting the tough defence from both teams, and Emily came on to GS,Maria to WA with Liv to WD and Devon to GD. Maria’s speed helped to create more space in the front court and with Emily driving strongly out of the circle, this cleared space for Jess to drive in. Club took the win 14-6 but it certainly felt a lot closer than that!

We were into the final, and after two really exciting games, the coaches needed to let off some steam. So, it was off to do the coaches challenge – how many passes could you do in 30 seconds against the “Crazy Catch” (a bouncy net that sends the ball off at different angles). Coach Liz managed 39 before Assistant Coach Chantal got 43. It transpired that 43 was the top score but there were a few people on it. Being highly competitive we had to do it again – this time Liz got 42 and Chan (despite hitting the frame once causing a bounce) managed 44!

Our opponents in the final were to be Trinity A and they had some big strong girls! The starting seven were Emily, Jess, Amelia, Lola, Liv, Devon and Skylar. Unfortunately Club did not start well, with Em and Jess getting stuck behind their defence and the Trinity GD being complexly dominant in almost two thirds of the court. Amelia was also finding it hard work to lose the tough WD, but she started to use her change of direction better. A couple of dicey feeds from Lola and Amelia allowed Trinity to get the ball back and they made the most of it as Devon and Liv were defending too reactively rather than pro-actively. Trinity took a four goal lead before Club finally settled down and it went goal for goal for the rest of the half, finishing 12-8. At half time Maria came on at WA and she showed great availability in attack. Jess and Emily stared to show more variety, and with one punching through to the top of the D, it left the baseline open for the other, and the defence were finally split. Skylar made some superb interceptions, and had the GS in her pocket, and Devon was also putting a lot more pressure on the GA. Liv was also more in the game, and she showed good responsibility to get the ball out of defence and through the centre court. Lola continued to be the inspiration for the team as she made vital interceptions and was always on hand for a pass if needed. Club managed to get on level terms but a wayward pass allowed Trinity back into it. The fight went on goal for goal and at the final whistle, Trinity were ahead by just one goal 18-17. It was a fantastic match, watched by the England players who were cheering from the sidelines. Disappointment from the squad was short lived as they realised how well they had done with so many different combinations whilst the Trinity girls had played with just 8 all tour.

Anyway there was no time to dwell on our second place, as it was time to charge back to the ranch to change for more time at Disney. A lost ticket was a bit of a trauma but everyone had lots of fun before it was time for the Awards Dinner at Kings Ludwig’s restaurant. The skills awards were up first and Amelia had won the figure of eight challenge, Jess had won a shooting challenge, and Lola had won three challenges (vertical jump, zig zag sprint and plank) as well as taking the overall title. With Chantal winning the coaches challenge and being awarded the Crazy Catch for us to keep, Club had dominated! We were then awarded with our runners-up trophy and gave Trinity a big cheer for their overall win.

The next day we were all shattered and sad to be going home, but we’d had a great time. On the way back Lola had to step in for Jess (lost voice – probably from bossing Rachel Shaw around …..) to give a lovely speech on the coach to our opponents and coach-mates and to give our driver, James a present for looking after us so well. On the ferry we also gave out the tour awards for some memorable moments and events (what goes on tour stays on tour!) and player of the tour was deservedly awarded to Lola Wheeler. It was another fantastic year at Disney, with a great bunch of girls (who hopefully enjoyed it as much as the coaches!) – they conducted themselves fantastically, looked and behaved like true Club members and we were extremely proud of them all.

Next year anyone?