Local teams do well at Upper North Island Secondary Schools Netball tournament

Four players from the St Peter's team were named in the A grade Upper North Island Secondary Schools tournament team. Photo / Supplied

The Upper North Island Secondary Schools tournament was held at Barfoot & Thompson Netball Centre, Netball North Harbour from Monday, September 2 to Friday, 6 September 6 with 119 teams from schools across the North Island.

The teams were ranked into four grades based on 2018 results. A, B and C grade all had 32 teams with each grade split into 8 pools of 4 teams. D grade had 23 teams split into three pools of six teams and one pool of five teams.

Stage one of the tournament involved pool play to determine the ranking of each pool. Stage two took the top and bottom 16 across each grade and there was cross section play.

Stage three took the top eight and bottom eight of the previous stage and there was cross over play.

Stage four was semi-finals and stage five was finals.

For D grade stage two involved taking the top and bottom 8 teams and stage three was semi finals and stage 4 finals.

At the end of tournament the bottom five placings were relegated from A, B and C grades and the top placings from B, C and D grades were promoted.

From Trust Waikato Hamilton City Netball Centre four school teams from the Thursday night premier indoor netball competition were among those attending the tournament.

These included St Peter's School, Hamilton Girls High School, St Paul's Collegiate School and Waikato Diocesan School for Girls.

St Peter's School have had a great season performing well in the open premier indoor grade and winning the school section of the competition with a solid performance in the final against Hamilton Girls High School in August.

St Peter's ended up 12th place in the A grade for UNISS in 2018. In pool play they had wins over the other teams in their pool including Hamilton Girls, Pukekohe and McAuley.

On day three and four they continued to have wins except against Saint Kentigern.

They lost this game 38-30. In the semi-final they met Howick and they won 37-31. In the final they played Saint Kentigern again and they lost 44-21.

This is an outstanding achievement for the team.

Four players from the St Peter's team were named in the A grade tournament team including Atlanta Bruce, Kataraina Ormsby, Waiata Jennings and Katie Te Ao.

This is the highest number of players nominated from any one team.

Ivari Christie from Hamilton Girls High School was also named in the A grade tournament team.

At the end of tournament Hamilton Girls High School were ranked 10th, St Paul's Collegiate were 12th and Waikato Diocesan School for Girls was 16th in the A grade.

Overall a highly successful result for all teams and something the Trust Waikato Hamilton City Netball Centre and the Schools involved can be proud of.

This is another great event with a large team of volunteers including coaches, managers and umpires attending.

It is also a key stepping stone for players and umpires along the development pathway.