Upgraded halfway through competition

Upgraded halfway through competition

Hi,We're halfway through the competition and our team was undefeated. Secretly we were already thinking of playing in the finals. We've just learned that our District has upgraded us to the next higher grade. We'll be at such a disadvantage not knowing any of the teams. Also all the teams in our previous grade had byes and so we've played 5 games and had 1 bye. The teams in our new grade have had no byes and have played 6 games. So the next team up (also undefeated) has 18 points but we have 15 points. Seems an unfair advantage to me. Is there a way to adjust for the bye we've had?Lastly, our next game is against the team that is at the top of the ladder. What can we do to be as best prepared as we can be? Many thanks in advance!

Coach, Australia
ANSWERS
Netball CoachCoach

Congrats on getting a grade higher BUT I totally agree that it is unfair. They should have realised that you should have been in your `new` grade within the first two games. Cause it is a disadvantage for you and your team. You could always try calling and having a chat to the District?

But best way is to just make sure their flow is uninterrupted by `netball politics` lol and maybe add extra attention to things they need to work on with attacking position/ defence etc. Your first game in your new grade will give you better insight to what you`ll be expecting these next few games.

Hope that helped and Good Luck!!

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

our club does a regrading of divisions after week 5, so yours sounds not that much difference. they should adjust the scores to ensure that you are not disadvantaged just like a team who gets put down a division because they have yet to win a game and are being flogged each week would have been disadvantaged by being put down into your division. it can be frustrating when you are put into another division, and the road to finals will now have to be earnt with a lot more sweaty and tough netball, rather than getting through a game and winning again. good luck in your new division, and you can make it to the finals even if you were on the bottom, as my team last year (although we were not regraded) were second from the bottom after grading, and we ended up winning the grand final. work and play hard. what a great opportunity you have now been given...congrats.

Rachel Coach, New Zealand

I like your take on this Leanne as a great opportunity. I know this is about to happen to my little team as we run the same system here after 7 games all the grades are re-jigged & points put back to zero. As we have won all our games so far Im fairly certain we will be put up a grade. Even though this will be tough I am keen for my team to push themselves to do better.

Coach, Australia

Hi Ladies, Thanks heaps for your responses. In first instance it was a bit hard to give up on the thought that in our old grade we would`ve played in the finals with a good chance at winning. It was a really cool feeling that things were finally coming together for the girls.

But we`re passed that now and determined to make the best of our experience in the new grade. Being upgraded shows the girls their hard work in the past has paid off and it will give us plenty of opportunity to learn! We`ve played our first game in the new grade and lost by only a slight margin (with rounds against teams higher on the ladder still to come - yikes). The intensity went up a notch (couple of injuries), but the girls played valiantly for the full 60 minutes. We`re very proud of them. We`ve decided to ad in extra training time for the rest of the competition and we`ll focus on working as a team.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

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