This was the ultimate test for staff and their teams to slow things down and play by some alternative netball rules!
As the Vice Chancellor’s Cup continued, teams took to the court to play walking netball, a game designed for anyone, regardless of their level of fitness or age.
Walking Netball is based on the common game of netball but with a twist. As the name suggests, players are only allowed to walk (fast walk), there is no jumping and extra time is allowed before a player must pass the ball. It is a game popular with players who have retired from traditional netball due to injury or physical difficulty.
Day 1
As with many of the Vice Chancellor’s Cup games, teams were split into groups for this event, rotating to play against opposing teams in their pool. The first hour saw Happy Ravers, Fine Ants, Marlowe’s Marauders and Flu Fighters in Group 1 and Living La Vida Mocha, Back to the Future (student), and Chipperfield Circus in Group 2. Both Chipperfield Circus and SPP Power elected to play their “Free Hit” Chip ensuring they would receive mid-table points. Winning three consecutive games, Happy Ravers secured 9 points, taking the top spot. With the other three teams all finishing with one win, the remaining places in the pool were determined by points difference, leaving Fine Ants in second place, Marlowe’s Marauders in third and Flu Fighters in fourth place. Group 2 saw Living La Vida Mocha soar to victory after finishing unbeaten with two wins and a draw in their three games, putting them in an excellent position for the final games on Thursday. Back to the Future (student) finished second with four points and Chipperfield Circus finished with one point.
The second hour saw the remaining seven teams convene to play some very tight games. Liquorice All Sports, Campus Sporting Exploits, DoNATS and U Bunch O’Kents battled for points in Group 3, with final positions in this pool decided by a single goal. Liquorice All Sports brought their A-game, walking away with three out of three wins. Amazingly, the other three teams all recorded identical scores, with the same points difference, and goals for and against! As the teams were tied in a draw, their positions for the second day were awarded based on the number of players each team had recruited for the event. This left Campus Sporting Expoits in 2nd, DoNATS in 3rd and U Bunch O’Kents in 4th. Group 4 saw Infomaniacs, RISistence is Futile and Keepers of the Keys battle for points. Infomaniacs stormed to victory in this group with three victories from three, finishing with nine points and topping the group. RISistence is Futile and Keepers of the Keys both finished with three points, so the points difference was used to decide the final standings, leaving RISistence is Futile in 2nd place and Keepers of the Keys in 3rd.
Day 2
Based on the team’s results from day one, groups were formed for day two, where 13 teams convened, with lots of points to play for.
- Group A – teams who finished 1st in their group
- Group B – teams who finished 2nd in their group
- Group C – teams who finished 3rd in their group
- Group D – teams who finished 4th in their group
The first hour saw six teams arrive, making up Group B and Group D, combining teams Back to the Future (student), Fine Ants, Campus Sporting Exploits and RISistence is Futile (Group B) and U Bunch O’Kents and Flu Fighters (Group D). Here teams played a round-robin of shorter but more frequent games, pairing teams up to take on two competitor teams. After a fun-filled hour with many great games played the round-robin table was split back into its two original groups. In Group B, Back to the Future (student) recorded four wins from four games to secure victory and a great points haul! Just behind in 2nd place was Fine Ants who recorded three victories from four games, to finish with nine points. 3rd place went to RISistence is Futile with six points and 4th place went to Campus Sporting Exploits. In Group D, U Bunch O’Kents came out victorious after winning two out of their four games to finish six points ahead of Flu Fighters who finished with three points.
The second hour brought Group A and Group C to the court. Group C consisted of Marlowe’s Marauders, Keepers of the Keys and DoNATS. This group was hotly contested with all three teams finishing with two wins and a defeat from their three games. Final places were therefore decided by points difference with Marlowe finishing on top with a points difference of +4, narrowly ahead of Keepers of the Keys who had a points difference of +3 and DoNATS with +2. In Group A, competing for maximum points were Happy Ravers, Infomaniacs, Living La Vida Mocha and Liquorice All Sports. There were some very tight games in this group but it was Living La Vida Mocha who came out on top to be crowned Walking Netball champions after finishing unbeaten with seven points. Infomaniacs and Liquorice All Sports were tied on four points but Infomaniac’s superior points difference of +2 compared to Liquorice All Sports +1 secured them 2nd place, and Happy Ravers finished 4th.
As always, many thanks to all who came to the event, and especially to our fantastic volunteer umpires! It was a great showcase with tremendous sportsmanship and fair play on the show, really encapsulating what the VC Cup is all about. Congratulations to Living La Vida Mocha who walked away victorious with 21 points and to Fine Ants who were awarded the Fair Play Award for this event, for the buzz of energy and support they brought throughout.
Don’t forget you can keep up to date with all the VC’s Cup activity and the updated leaderboard, on our webpage!