As soon as we put those Panda dresses on we felt the pride of the club in our hands!
And yes we did it winning through to the final of the South West Walking netball tournament at Ivybridge securing a 7-7 all draw with the favourites Wonford Wanderers from Exeter.
Running under the Panda banner we went from strength to strength settling down following our first match nerves and winning straight games over teams from Somerset, Devon and Cornwall for a place in the head to head.
Our captain Sharon Mills-george led by example executing extremely influential switches after our first match and controlling our games from the centre spot.
Vicki Luck was on fire clocking up an impressive tally benefitting from accurate passing into the circle from Jackie Carr (GA); Sharon Mills-george (C) and Kathryn Mary Pearn (WA).
Some of our three pass moves down the court to Vicki from the whistle were a credit to our team and a testimony to our determination to hold steady and feed the circle.
Our defence were equally on form with Mary O'Connell always busy creating havoc for the opposition switching to GD and admirably backed up by GK Carolyne Knight as an anchor for our girls.
Julie Emery in WD cramped every WA always coming forward for the back pass when needed and Ann Steadman made her debut for the Pandas a winning one.
Our most convincing victories came with a 15-2 win against Wellington followed by 11-3 over St Agnes.
What can I say it was team work from everyone including our sub Fran Hodges - a tremendous asset to us on the side-line keeping score and disputing a half time result when required.
And we got the chance to cheer on our fellow Cornish club St Agnes and they equally supported us in the final.
In typical Panda ethos we had fun, friendship and immense camaraderie stopping off on the way home for a roast dinner proudly entering Windy Ridge with our medals and jackets - we did turn some heads! And a good old sing song on the way home in the mini-bus with huge thanks to John Carr for driving and listening to our shenanigans.
Words can't really describe this day out with the Pandas-Strollers - what our club has achieved is immense with our social play, teams in the league highlighted by the age range on court today.
Kathryn Pearn - Chair
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