Omega Netball Club News

The penultimate fixture for Omega’s local league team in the HDNL Wednesday night league, playing against a merger of Bengeo and Tornadoes historic teams, forming Bengeo Tornadoes.

Bengeo Tornadoes were not able to contain the slick play of Omega and their tight defence.  The first half of the game was a clean slate for the team, with no goals conceded against them and 31 goals scored.  Omega were formidable in their ability to turnover possession, smooth in their linking of the passing throughout the court and finally capitalising on the goals consistently.

In the 2nd half of the game, we introduced rules on our play to use the rest of the game as to train and improve our play generally.  A great performance and a final score of 47-2!

Bengeo Tornadoes awarded POM to GS, Mia Bailey.  Well done Mia!

Omega Youths faced experience team Panthers in the Herts & District League at Wodson Park on Saturday 2nd March 2019.

Having worked on the defensive skills for the past four weeks, Omega were told to remember to tightly mark their player, 2-hand mark and delay the attacker from  moving forward with the aim of forcing errors and gaining as many interceptions as possible.

Although the first half of the game was not as tight as they should have been defensively, the team increased their pressure throughout the game, resulting in the defensive players, GD/GK, Millie Pickard and  Neave Parsons tipping the ball, intercepting the feeds and winning the rebounds consistently throughout the game to give their team the opportunity to increase their score.  WD, Rachel Toye was positioned well at the top of the circle enabling her to pick up the tipped balls from the defenders, securing more chances for the team.

On the other side of the court, the shooting from GA, Lauren Ahern was on form, achieving 70% conversion of her shots throughout the game and gaining 73% of the total goals scored for her team.  Her partner in crime, GS, Yasmin Rogers demonstrated great understanding of teamwork, swinging the ball from the circle edge, across to the supporting WA, Louise Merrick or C, Shannon Mooney, to feed Lauren into a better position for shooting.   The attack play worked really well at times in our shooting third, with some very good use of the circle edge players and feeds into the shooters, although on some occasions, some more thought was needed on the type of pass needed for the situation presented as several were intercepted by the tall Panthers defenders.

Although the team turned-over many a ball, their ability to hold on to it as they came down court was lacking, with the opposition reading the pass and intercepting it and Panthers took back the balls that Omega have won from them, making our turnovers, short-lived.

Some displays of great play were seen in this game, but also some things to work on such as reaction, alertness and speed. Likewise some work on understanding which pass suits the situation.

Omega Youths face experienced team, Bury in the Herts & District Local Netball League today.    The opening quarter saw some controlled play from Omega with matched court play and shooting from both teams.  A great interception by C, Shannon Mooney, who fed the ball straight to her GS, Yas Rogers to reward with the shot.   More interceptions by GD, Millie Spires, but these often short lived as an error followed the possession win.  Shooting from Omega’s Lauren Ahern and Yas Rogers was on point as they matched the goals gained by their opposition, resulting in a score of 9-9 by the end of the first quarter.

Second quarter saw Bury settle into their game and the experienced play shine through.  More great interceptions were won by Millie, but as soon as the ball was won, the opposition  won back the ball due to weak or mis-placed passing by the Omega team.   The team struggled to loose their markers and with passing direct to the player instead of the space, the opposition read the ball well and intercepted the ball at every opportunity.

The third quarter saw Omega struggle to bring the ball to their shooters, with the players once again failing to loose their markers and often moving the ball sideways or backwards due to player positioning, making it easier for the experience team to turnover possession and securing the goals at each opportunity gained.   Some good two hand marking of the pass was seen by all players this quarter and some good reading of the play by Shannon mid-court and defenders Millie and Neave, however possession gained was short-lived each time.

The final quarter, as usual a quick one due to central timing.  WA, Ellie Reynolds intercepts the ball from Bury and thinks about her next pass, feigning the pass in to GA Lauren Ahern, before securing it to her, which Lauren converts with her usual accuracy in the shot.  GK, Neave Parsons intercepts a couple of feeds to the shooters this quarter, but Omega are unable to keep possession and Bury gain control each time, before taking it to goal.

Some good play evident, particularly in the first quarter, but the need to loose markers and improve ball placement is something to work on for future games.

Omega Youths met Wodson Cyan for the 2nd half of the fixtures at Wodson Park.  Both teams being youth teams, it was great to have the opportunity to play against a similar age-group team.

Omega took the 1st couple of goals of the game, starting really well and in the first quarter both teams were matched in their performance and equalising on scores by the end of the quarter, 9-9.

The 2nd quarter was again one of similar performance from both teams, but with Wodson Cyan just having the edge and leading by half time 22-16.

The 3rd quarter saw Wodson Cyan taking advantage of the height of their shooter, perfecting the loop ball, high feeds into the circle, allowing them to build on their lead as Omega defence being that much shorter, could not intercept the pass, resulting in the score going into the final quarter of 21-35.

The final quarter was short as usual, however a switch of the Omega defence to match the height of the shooter, allowed them to contain and limit Wodson’s feeding options.  Both teams equalised on score this quarter, with a final score of 40-26 to Wodson Cyan.

Omega were lacking their centre court players, resulting in an unpracticed setup midcourt, but Jodie Gill and Neave Parsons put in all their effort and covered the role well between them.   The whole team defended well throughout the entire game, with mid court players Rachel Toye, Louise Merrick, Neave and Jodie intercepting many more balls than seen in previous matches, but these were often short-lived as they were unable to maintain ball ownership to goal.  Lauren Lee in GK  and Yas Rogers in GD, managed to closely mark the circle players, resulting in winning many rebounds for the team.

Some superb and accurate shooting by Ellie Reynolds and Lauren Ahern and tight defending by Yas Rogers in the final quarter as GK.   A performance the team should be proud of and definitely an improvement in the whole team’s defending play.    Well done team!