ORKNEY NETFEST 2008
On Friday 17th October 2008 9 members of Westhill Netball Club rose very early. We met at Aberdeen Airport at 5.50am for our 6.50am flight to Kirkwall, Orkney! The plane was very small to say the least with only 12 rows of 3 seats! Anxious fliers Alison, Cat and Kate did well to brave the flight.
Once we landed and arrived at Kirkwall Airport we picked up our convoy of 3 Fiestas and headed out into the open road! Not sure what the locals thought of us! We took in all the sights of the West Island including Earl’s Palace, Skara Brae, Stromness, and Stones of Steness. We then got our bearings of the hostel and the Sport Centre where we would be playing the next day. By this time the early flight was starting to take affect and we were getting sleepy! We couldn’t check in to the hostel until 8pm so napping there was out. The Sport Centre had a cinema so we thought we’d buy a ticket and nap there! Unfortunately we were in Orkney where the cinema only shows one film per day and we had missed it by an hour! So there was only one thing for it – a trip to the local pub ‘The Shore’! We then picked up the final member of our team from the airport (Gill) and headed for tea for ten at the Kirkwall Hotel. This place was very posh and I don’t think our loud banter went down well with the locals! After tea we checked in to the hostel and read over our instructions for the tournament the following day.
We all met for breakfast at 7am on Saturday where Lil and Julie got into trouble for tucking into the cooked breakfast by Coach Alison! We then headed to the Sport Centre for 8.30am for the tournament. This was a great day with 9 teams from all over Scotland – Orkney Ladies, Orkney U19’s, Shetland, Dumfries, Galloway, Red Kites (from Dingwall), Holyrood (from Edinburgh) and both Westhill and Cowie from Aberdeen. We played every team throughout the day which meant we had 8 games. Games were 10 minutes each way with 2 minutes at half time. So to say we were knackered by the end of the day was an understatement! We did very well winning our first game against Shetland (16-14), we then went on to lose against Orkney U19’s in a very close match (13-15), we then won our following three games against Galloway (17-10), Cowie (20-7) and Holyrood (15-11) (who ended up winning the tournament). We were the only team in the day to beat Holyrood which was an achievement in itself. We drew to Dumfries (12-12) and lost our following two games to Red Kites (9-17) and Orkney (8-17). Over the last few games we had a couple of injuries – losing Cat due to a fall hurting her knee and ankle and Kate due to a longstanding ankle injury. This meant we only had 7 players for the last few games! Overall we came fifth which was a great achievement. This tournament was organised superbly and nothing could be faulted. There was a raffle and also a stall of tournament T-shirts for sale. We were given free flowing bottles of Orkney Water to keep us refreshed throughout the day. Photographers from the local press were also there. At the end of the day we were each given a goodie bag with a photograph of all the teams from the day, a necklace from Ortak and Orkney fudge!
After the tournament it was a very quick rush back to the hostel to get ready for the dinner at the local Town Hall. Supper was great with a buffet of cold meats, salad and baked potatoes and Orkney Toffee Cheesecake for dessert. We were also supplied with free wine on the table which we made very good use of! After tea we headed to the local bars to enjoy some cocktails and then to the ONLY local nightclub ‘FUSION’. It is advertised as ‘The best nightclub north of Edinburgh!’ After paying £7 to get in we danced and drank the night away! Strangely Aberdeenshire Rugby Team had been playing Orkney that day so we ended up chatting to them all night and a couple of girls even got a kiss! No names will be given!! It was soon home time and we all got back to the hostel in one piece (one way or another!).
Sunday breakfast was at 9am and everyone made it apart from one! Julie was hungover and decided time would be best spent in her bed! After breakfast Mhairi and Alison took Gill to visit the West Island while everyone else went back to bed for a nap except Harriet who has far too much energy! We checked out at 12pm and went to explore the East Island. With it being a Sunday not a lot was open! We saw the Italian Chapel and then went for some lunch in a small town. The man who worked there was the barman, waiter, cook and kitchen porter! After lunch we explored the rest of the East Island before heading back to the airport to return our cars. Our flight home was extremely bumpy due to cross winds and most of us were either terrified or trying not to be sick!
All in all in was a great weekend with great netball and great fun. It was definitely good for team spirit and team bonding! We are now looking into going to the Isle of Man Netball Festival in April 09! Watch this space!
Westhill Netball Club
Coach – Alison Smith
Players – Elizabeth Forno, Cat Moffat, Kate Watson, Claire Watson, Gillian Payne, Gillian Smith, Harriet Baird, Mhairi Smith, Julie Milton
For photos of the day Google ‘orkneysports’.
