Yesterday saw the highly anticipated return of the Grampian Rosebowl Netball Tournament hosted at Countesswells Sports Field. The tournament welcomed 24 netball teams from across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to participate in a morning of community sport showcasing the high standard of youth netballers across the region. Congratulations go to Clerkhill Primary School, Peterhead who came first place in the Gold Competition and winners of the Rosebowl Tournament Trophy.

Lauren Axten, Grampian Rosebowl Netball Coordinator and Chair of Aberdeen Schools Netball Association, shared: “Planning the return of the Grampian Rosebowl Tournament has been a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience! Connecting with staff, players, parents and volunteer coaches from all across the North East has been an fantastic experience to unite everyone’s passion to develop the Netball provision for our young players in Grampian. The format of the Rosebowl Tournament has been modified to welcome over 250 players which could not be possible without the use of the fantastic Netball facilities at Countesswells Sports Field.”

Marie Clark, Netball Scotland Development Officer, said: “It was great to see so many primary school participants enjoying netball and to have so many supporters cheering them on. Congratulations to the winning teams and thank you to all the coaches, umpires and volunteers for giving up their time to support the Rosebowl Tournament, it is very much appreciated. I had a few conversations with coaches and parents who had participated in the competition as juniors and I think I can safely say we were all thrilled to see the return of the event. Huge thanks to Robert Gordon's College for hosting and Lauren Axten in particular for organising such a successful and fun celebration of netball, I'm already looking forward to next year's competition.”

Nicola Stephen, Teacher in charge of Netball, added: “What a fantastic day at Countesswells! We were absolutely delighted to welcome such a large number of schools to the tournament. All pupils worked very hard, demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and I am sure made their schools extremely proud. The return of the tournament allows pupils from across both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to come together to compete in a friendly, fun and positive playing environment in the North East. I would like to say a huge thank you to all staff involved for supporting this event and we are already looking forward to seeing everyone again next year.”

Robert Gordon’s College has built a netball community for players of ability from as early as Primary 2 and provides a Netball programme with dedicated coaching from Monday through to Saturday, enabling pupils to develop a passion for the game. The College has a strong history of supporting the development of young netball players and our ambition and commitment to grow the netball community in the north east is underlined by the school’s recent partnership with Netball Scotland.