Tess has been playing netball for 2 years now. In Australia, during the first 2 years the girls play a simplified version of netball called nettas which essentially means the rules are more relaxed and the girls are made to rotate positions so that they get a chance at trying everything. They also get to play with the people they choose and Tess has made some lovely friendships with the girls in her netball team. On Sunday her team attended a Netball Gala Day which was their first introduction to playing real netball. It was an incredibly well run day: 6 of the Seaforth netball teams turned up and played against each team in a shortened game with knowledgable umpires who started pulling them up on all the mistakes which were fine for nettas to make but which are big no-no's for proper netball players. As Australians take their sport very seriously this is the last time the girls will be able to choose the team they play for. In February they go through a grading process which involves grading the girls according to their ability and putting them in teams with equally able girls and hence they could easily end up in a team of girls that they barely or don't know. Luckily we've got a term of Spring netball with the proper rules and with their friends so it's not quite over although we all felt a little sad at saying goodbye to the team. Anyway, it was a fabulous morning with the sun shining brightly and the girls had a ball although they were a bit flummoxed by the stricter rules. Afterwards Tess' team headed to a nearby pizza place where the parents sat in the sun and chatted whilst the kids continued to run around - a great day.
Tom played his last game of rugby for the season on Saturday. I've mentioned previously that they've started proper tackling now which Tom was really looking forward to but I have noticed that he has been quite scarred by his broken arm and is now much more conscious of potential hurt/pain. In one way I should be happy about this as he takes a lot fewer risks and hopefully is less likely to break another limb however it is stopping him from getting fully involved in his rugby game which I think he could be very good at so it is a shame.
We had a triple sleep over this weekend with Olivia, Jesse and Floyd the dog staying on Saturday night. Whilst the girls and I played Rummikub Tom serenaded us on his guitar which led to an impromptu disco (Jesse goes to hip hop classes) followed by a late finishing film - the kids were almost begging to go to bed and Jules, Floyd and I were right behind them.
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