London Pulse Rise Again Festival – Manchester

(Photo cred: Touchline Pics)

The Rise Again Festival saw the majority of the super league teams competing as well as a handful of men’s teams and the entire Pulse squad was excited and raring to play some competitive netball.

This festival also presented a chance for the squad to stay overnight in Manchester to get to know each other off the court.

Pulse would be faced with 2 group games on the Saturday and the results of the two games would then dictate who Pulse would play on the Sunday. Pulse started in a group with Spartans Mens (following the withdrawal of Severn Stars) and Saracens Mavericks.

The first morning game was against Spartans and was a game Pulse were determined to win. With a few new faces in the squad Pulse released their starting 7:

Keable GK

Everitt GD

Odeogberin WD

Rattu C

Honey WA

McDonald GA

Tchine GS

Pulse started the game with an awesome interception from new Australian Tayla Honey, and as quarter one continued the teams through court defense was outstanding, finishing with lovely shooting from Liv Tchine. Pulse took the lead 9-4.

Leading into quarter two, Everitt and Keable’s circle defending was awesome and Pulse continued to score off the turnovers. Pulse’s attack was also on fire with McDonald and Honey’s partnership unstoppable. The end of quarter score was 21-10. An epic quarter from Pulse.

At half time a few changes were made, Rothwell was moved to GA and Dekker was put in at C. The next two quarters were just as impressive though as Dekker brought unreal speed into the attack and Rothwell’s work rate was on point. Pulse ended the game winning an amazing 39-19.

After a dinner break and a rest, Pulse were back on court for a game against Mavericks. Pulse had to win this game to go through for a chance to compete in the semis and finals. Pulse started the game well and looked confident in defense and attack. The centre court were on fire and an intercept from Dekker meant Liv could score. However, Mavericks had a strong defense and at half time Pulse were behind.

Quarter three saw Pulse came back fighting and Keable got a beautiful fly to change momentum. McDonald put some beautiful balls into Liv and Pulse continued to play some great netball despite losing the overall game 31-22.

Some fantastic netball from Pulse throughout the day – now it was just a wait to see the fixtures for day Two.

Day Two

After beating Spartans and losing to Mavericks the day Pulse would play for 5th-8th position. The first game was scheduled to be against Knights Men and the following game was to be confirmed between Bath and Wasps.

A few new faces from the 21s squad joined for the second day. Coach Lisa Alexander AM joined Sam Bird AND Fiona Murtagh on the coaching bench and squad members Berri Neil, Alicia Scholes and Peace Akinyemi joined the VNSL team.

As the first game began the starting 7 for this game was announced onto court:

Keable- GK

Everitt- GD

Odeogberin- WD

Rattu- C

Honey- WA

McDonald- GA

Tchine- GS

Knights Men and London Pulse often face each other in training games and know each other’s game well. This meant that it would be an exciting game for the two teams to battle it out competitively.

A close first half commenced and Knights and Pulse were goal for goal. There was some superb shooting from Liv and Tayla, and Sacha showed some great speed in attack. Jasmin Odeogberin not only defended with purpose but helped attack through court and was a steady and safe option on the line for the attackers to use. This left Pulse finishing the first half tied with Knights Men.

In the second half Kira, Ash and Peace all took to the court and helped bring fresh legs and speed onto the court, it was a tight last two quarters for Knights Men. Pulse also introduced Scholes and Neil onto the court and despite some fantastic attacking and defending play from Pulse, Knights just managed to pull away and win the game.

This meant Pulse’s second game was against Wasps. This was to be Pulse’s last game of the tournament – playing for 7th-8th positioning. Pulse started the game with the same starting 7 as the previous game and Jasmin Odeogberin showed some great attacking play through court. Pulse kept the same lineup throughout the game and were on fire. The team showed moments of excellence, with beautiful attacking play and strong solid defense. Liv and Sacha’s shooting was on point!

The final game ended 37-26 and meant Pulse finished 7th in the tournament. A solid weekend from Pulse but still lots of time for learning and developing before the season.

Sam Bird “A good pre season opportunity to see the squad in action over the two days. It’s important to see players off the court as well as on it, bonding and getting along. We have a great squad chemistry and a hard work ethic. I’m pleased where we are at the moment, and more pre season game play will bring this squad along even more in readiness for the season”.