‘Thanks, Dad.’
Jade spotted a familiar figure pushing through the crowd. ‘Jet!’ He was still in his rugby gear, which was covered in grass and dirt stains. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I got here as soon as I could. I wanted to see you play in your first ever grand final.’
Jade beamed with happiness. ‘You and Dad and Mum have made my day! How did you go at rugby?’
Jet shot her a lopsided grin. ‘Ah, we got flogged.’
‘Never mind. You can always aim for the top next time,’ Jade said with a wink.
Brrrp! The whistle blew and Jade sped back on court.
Chapter Twenty-two
The Gems took the next centre pass. The Thomson players kept close to their Marrang opposition, making it almost impossible for them to move the ball into the goal third. Eventually, Lily got a pass to Maddy, who fired the ball to Jade in the goal circle. Phoebe and Jade dodged their defenders by repositioning and passing several times, before Phoebe could take a clear shot at goal.
The ball went neatly into the goal ring.
‘Perfect shot, Phoebe!’ Jade called.
6–5 to Thomson.
Thomson had the next centre pass. They quickly got the ball away to their attacking players. Immediately Prani ran in. She was like a terrier, badgering her opposition player and chasing her across court. When the Wing Attack dropped a pass, Prani scooped it up. Back up the court the ball came, all the way to the Marrang goal circle.
Jade shot for goal, but the ball hit the ring and rebounded.
Phoebe dodged her defender, collected the ball then shot for goal.
It popped through, and the crowd cheered.
One more goal to win!
It was Marrang’s turn for the centre pass. Jade toed the transverse line, her mind and her heart racing. She could feel the tension between the players on the court.
The umpire’s whistle blew.
Lily threw to Jade as she raced forward into the centre third. When Prani broke free from her defender, Jade shot a long, low bounce pass to her but the Thomson player reached it first, stealing possession.
The ball went back and forth between Thomson and Marrang as intercept followed intercept. Prani finally broke through with a high lob pass to Maddy. As Jade dashed inside the goal circle, Maddy bounce passed to her. Jade bent to grab the ball. So did the Thomson Goal Defence. The girls grappled for possession, neither willing to let go.
Brrrp!
‘We’ll have a toss-up, girls,’ the umpire said.
Jade’s hands were shaking. Her heart was beating wildly and she could practically hear the game clock ticking inside her head.
This might be our last chance to score, she thought.
Jade and the Thomson defender stood three feet apart, each facing her own goal end.
‘Arms straight. Hands by your sides,’ the umpire said. ‘Hold your position.’
If I catch the ball, I’ll feed it to Phoebe, Jade thought. Just like Janet told me.
The umpire held the netball just below Jade’s shoulder height. Jade kept her eyes on the ball, her fingers twitching.
The umpire blew the whistle. The ball went up. Jade reached out, and beat her opponent by a millisecond!
I won the toss! Now, back to business.
‘Jade!’
Jade pivoted on the spot, ready to pass to Phoebe, but Jade saw that Phoebe was stuck behind her defender. She couldn’t break free.
‘Shoot, Jade!’ Maia shouted from the sideline. ‘We’ve only got a few seconds left!’
Jade took a deep breath. ‘You can do this,’ she whispered. ‘Be like Erin Bell.’
She focused on the ball and aimed for the ring, while the Thomson Goal Defence leant over her with her hands raised. Ignoring her defender, Jade lifted the ball above her head, aiming it towards the goal. As she flicked the ball forward, Jade straightened her elbows and knees, making sure she followed through with her hands to keep the ball on target.
The ball rolled around the top of the ring then dropped in.
Goal!
The crowd erupted and then, somewhere in the distance, Jade heard the whistle blow for the last time that season.
‘We did it!’ Isabella cried, as the Gems threw their arms around each other. ‘We’re the Under 13s champions!’
Jade saw the Thomson girls turn away, their shoulders slumped and heads hanging in defeat. One girl looked as though she might cry.
Jade was struck by how upset they looked. She imagined how she might have felt if the Gems had been in their position. They’ve worked hard all season, too, Jade thought.
‘Hey, I have an idea.’ She told the Gems girls what she wanted to do.
‘We’ll do it too,’ Lily said.
Jade knelt down, untied her friendship bracelet and ran over to the Thomson Goal Defence, who had played so well against her.
‘Hey,’ she tapped the girl on the shoulder. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Eve,’ the girl said.
‘Hi, Eve. I’m Jade.’ She held up her friendship bracelet. ‘I want to give you this. As a memento of our game.’
Eve’s eyes lit up. ‘These are your team colours. That’s really nice of you.’
‘You’re welcome. You played well today.’
‘Thanks,’ Eve said. ‘So did you.’
Jade glanced around the court and saw her teammates handing over their friendship bracelets and chatting with their opposing players.
‘I think I’ve seen you before,’ Eve said. ‘Besides at netball, I mean. Do you live on Paradise Parade?’
Jade nodded.
‘I live two blocks away. On Peace Avenue. Maybe you could come round one day and we could practise netball drills together?’
Jade smiled. It looked like netball had given her another friend. ‘I’d like that,’ she said.
‘Team talk, Gems!’ Janet waved the girls over.
As the girls hugged each other, their families and friends descended, camera flashes popping.
Even though Jade knew she wouldn’t have minded too much if the Gems had lost the game, it was still an amazing feeling to win the grand final and to be part of such a wonderful team.
‘Netball. Family. Friends.’ Jade sighed happily. ‘What more could a girl want?’
The Marrang Gems
Maia Anderson
Maddy Browne
Isabella Contesotto
Sienna Handley
Jade Mathison
Prani Patel
Lily Scott
Phoebe Tadic
Player Profile
Jade Mathison
Full name: Jade Astrid Mathison
Nickname: Jadey
Age: 12
Height: 149 cm
Family: Mum, Dad and 15-year-old brother Jet
School: St Thomas
Hobbies: Jade started NetSetGO when she was six years old and has been playing netball ever since. As part of a very active family, Jade has played many different sports, but netball is certainly her favourite. She loves practising goal shooting in her backyard, often using her mum’s pot plants as markers. While playing for the Gems, Jade has learnt that netball isn’t just about winning, that being part of a team and making your teammates your friends can mean more than scoring goals. Jade’s closest friend is Isabella, who also goes to St Thomas. Isabella and Jade became friends while taking surfing lessons together. After initially being scared in the surf, Isabella taught Jade that surfing can be fun. All it takes is practice: just like netball! Jade also likes hanging out with Eve, who plays for Thomson. Eve and Jade have plans to practise netball drills together over the summer.
Netball club: Marrang Netball Club
Netball team: Marrang Gems, the Marrang Netball Club Under 13s team
Netball coach: Janet
Training day: Wednesday
Netball uniform: Royal blue netball dress with white side panels where ‘Marrang’ is written in pink. Jade likes to jazz up her uniform w
ith her lucky rainbow-coloured shoelaces, which she reties exactly three times before each game in neat, double-knots.
Favourite netball position: Goal Attack
Netball idol: Australian Diamonds and Adelaide Thunderbirds player Erin Bell
Best netball moment: Shooting the winning goal for the Gems in the grand final against Thomson. Jade won a toss-up in the dying seconds of the match and had to really focus and believe in herself to score under pressure.
Netball ambition: To ‘Aim, Shoot, Score!’ like Erin Bell and one day play for the Diamonds – alongside the rest of her Gems teammates, of course!
Netball Drills
Shooting along a Curve
You can do this drill on a netball court, at the park, or anywhere there’s a netball ring. Rather than practising shooting along a line going straight out from the goal ring to the tip of the goal circle, by following a curved line, you learn to shoot from many different positions in the circle. If you don’t have a goal circle, you can draw one with chalk. Use six witch’s hats or pebbles or anything else you can find as markers to create the curve.
1. Place six markers in an arc, or half-circle, so they form a curved line starting from directly in front of the goal ring and finishing at the edge of the circle.
2. Start at the nearest marker and work your way back to the furthest marker, taking a shot for goal at each one.
3. Take no more than three seconds at each goal attempt and count how many goals you manage to score.
HOT TIP
Try increasing the challenge by shooting from every marker in quick succession. If you miss a goal, go back to the first marker and start again.
Get it to the Shooters
This drill will help your team’s attacking players learn to work closely with your shooting players. It requires five players: three attackers and two shooters.
1. Starting at the transverse line, the three attackers must pass the ball between one another five times as they reposition and travel towards the goal circle.
2. After five passes, the ball can be passed to one of the shooters.
3. The shooters must then move around the goal circle and pass the ball five times between them before they’re allowed to shoot for goal.
HOT TIP
Increase the difficulty of this drill by adding a defender in both the goal third and goal circle.
One-foot Flamingo Shooting
This technique is good to use in the goal circle when trying to evade a defender leaning over you as you prepare to shoot for goal. Make sure you practise on a flat surface, so you don’t roll your ankle!
1. Hold the ball in both hands, as if you were preparing to shoot.
2. Move your weight onto your right foot and lift your left foot off the ground.
3. Check your balance, then come up onto the ball of your right foot. This will help you to generate power behind your shot.
4. After aiming for the goal, flick the ball forward and push with your fingers, making sure you follow through.
5. Make sure you practise stepping to your left side, as well. If you practise both sides, you’ll be able to move either way to get around a tricky defender when you’re trying to go for goal.
HOT TIP
Add in a defender to make this drill more difficult.
Netball Positions
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Version 1.0
AIM FOR THE TOP
9780143781134
First published by Random House Australia in 2016
Copyright © Random House Australia 2016
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.
A Random House Australia book
Published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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Addresses for the Penguin Random House group of companies can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com/offices.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Creator: Darlison, Aleesah, author
Title: Aim for the top / Aleesah Darlison; illustrator Cat MacInnes
ISBN: 9780143781134 (ebook)
Series: Netball gems; 5
Subjects: Netball – Juvenile fiction
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover illustration by Cat MacInnes
Cover design by Kirby Armstrong
Aim for the Top Page 6