St Mary’s Catholic School in Orange has had a remarkable last three months of netball, winning a NSW Catholic Primary Schools (NSWCPS) tournament at Penrith in September before utilising a last-minute invite to take out a top-three finish at the NGS Super Netball NSW Schools Cup state finals at Homebush in November.

St Mary’s had two sides attend the NSWCPS tournament – St Mary’s Blue which is made of predominantly year six students – and St Mary’s Maroon which had a mix of year five and year six students.

St Mary’s Blue dominated the tournament to win the 12/13 years championship division.

That St Mary’s Blue side then made the most of a late call-up into the Netball NSW Schools Cup state finals, which were held at Homebush on November 12.

Erin Holmes, a teacher at St Mary’s, has coached the netball sides for the past two years.

She explained it was a large process to qualify for the Netball NSW Schools Cup finals.

St Mary’s Blue had to play two sets of qualification rounds, the first in Bathurst, the next in Orange.

St Mary’s Blue lost to St Matthew’s Mudgee by one goal in the qualification final at Orange.

However, another side pulled out of the state finals, so St Mary’s Blue received a late call-up.

“So we were an invitational team, I guess... which was really, really exciting,” Miss Holmes said.

“Finishing third was a great achievement for all the girls, because originally we weren’t even meant to be there, so it was an amazing feeling to see that actually happen.

“It was really good to actually show that we were good enough to be there.

St Mary’s finished second in one six-team pool before losing their semi-final against the first-placed side from the other pool to finish third overall.

Miss Holmes also explained that Hannah Sara, Bonnie Venner, Pippi Jarick and Bree Collins had been part of the team that finished sixth at the Netball NSW series last year when they were in year five and enjoyed the chance to compete again and improve.

“They were very happy with third this year. They were happy with sixth last year. Finishing higher up this year, they were, ecstatic,” she said.

Miss Holmes felt a good work ethic and constant training was a factor in producing such strong results.

“We only had about two weeks kind of to prepare,” Miss Holmes said.

“So we trained every single day at either recess or lunch.

“They were still begging me for more training.

“It’s just been amazing to watch, as a coach personally, just seeing them all improve.

“Especially the girls who played both years, seeing them improve from last year to this year, has just been amazing.”

The St Mary’s Blue side starred at Penrith to win the 12/13 years championship division.

“They played really well throughout the whole day,” Miss Holmes said.

“They only let in I think... eight goals... the whole day, which was amazing. I couldn’t believe it.

The St Mary’s Maroon side also performed strongly at Penrith.

“They went well. The Maroon team had a few wins, which was really good,” Miss Holmes explained.

“For a lot of them was their first time that they had played at the higher level before, so it was really good for them to be able to be exposed to that, because the year fives, they’ll be the year sixes next year.”

St Mary’s Blue: Bree Collins, Elwyn Evans, Bonnie Venner, Hannah Sara, Indiella Carter, Lucy Zarrella, Pippi Jarrick, Emily Maher, Aaliyah Haynes

St Mary’s Maroon: Mikaili Elliot, Kate Elliot, Scarlett Purvis, Freya Denman, Ada Golding, Matilda Cudars, Heidi Barrett, Abi Logan, Sophie White and Heidi Penberthy-Neil.