Storm Rumble as Thunder Crumble

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Monday 11 March 2013 at the Surrey Sports Park
Result	Surrey Storm 62 Manchester Thunder 44
Competition	Superleague – the top tier of netball in England
Hopping	Second netball venue, which is the same as that used for basketball by the Surrey Heat.  However, not the first venue in which I have seen two different sports – that honour went to the Madejski Stadium, Reading (football and rugby union).
Pre-match preparation
The games between these two sides last season were epics, hence my choice. Both teams have a 3-1 record – Storm lost by a point at Yorkshire Jets in their last outing, which was something of a surprise.  Thunder have a certain Tracey of the Neville sporting dynasty as director of netball.
This match in one sentence
Thunder edged the first few minutes before the teams ended all square at the interval, but then Storm blew their opponents off the court with a third quarter demolition and a stunning 18-point margin of victory.
So what?
Storm overtake Thunder in the table and join Team Bath (the only team to defeat Thunder so far) with a 4-1 record.
The drama unfolds
First signs were not great for Storm. They found themselves 2-6 and 4-9 down to some clinical Thunder play, and contributed to their situation with a number of unforced errors.  They clawed their way back to a two-point deficit at the end of the first quarter, with GA Ash Neal catching the eye as GS Rachel Dunn saw less of the ball than usual.  11-13 at the end of the 1st quarter Here’s a scene-setter clip from early in the second, as Storm start to perform and they get back to 16-16.  You will detect from these clips that I am with one of Storm’s best and noisiest young supporters!  Top work, Ed.  Storm are in blue. For my second-time visit to a top netball game, I made more of an effort to watch the tactics and the movement.  Here are 100 seconds in the life of a netball Centre, Storm’s Becky Trippick. The crowd reaction tells you that the teams are trading scores and we finish level at the half-way mark.  23-23 at the end of the 2nd quarter With TV cameras present (this goes out on Thursday), the match was shaping up into the close encounter that everyone expected.  For about another 5 minutes.  Dunn was now firing on all cylinders and Neal continued to impress.  Here are two minutes of GS Dunn, but of course Neal is featured too. It’s 32-30 and Storm have edged into the lead … and then suddenly it was 37-31 and 41-31 as they stepped up a gear and Thunder could not respond. Dunn was now scoring for fun with a near-flawless conversion rate now.  Thunder reorganised, and used a timeout, but they were rattled and down by 11 at the next break.  44-33 at the end of the 3rd quarter Other than a brief period of scrappy play in the fourth, Storm never looked like losing their grip.  I took a couple of clips of Ash Neal at work, though Dunn is scoring heavily at these points too.  For my untutored eyes, Ash Neal was player of the match overall.  The local experts gave that honour to WD Natalie Seaton. It finished 62-44.  That is an 18-point margin in a match that was expected to be close.  Whatever the Storm coaching staff said at half-time should be put on motivational posters with pictures of kittens or something.  Facebook loves that stuff.  Final score 62-44 Ashleigh Neal, Storm's GA, in the blue
The programme
Mars Bar Watch 2013
At BP Wisley North on the A3, a standard 58g bar cost 85p.  I should be outraged really, but I am in such a good mood because of this £1 off cheese voucher picked up at the game.  Awesome.
What Next?
No idea really.  Regular followers on Twitter will know that I am shortly changing jobs and heading back into the secondary school sector with a new challenge, back in the classroom full-time after Easter.  The next few weeks will be very busy and hopping decisions are likely to be last-minute.  Follow @GrahamYapp and be among the first to know, and maybe even help make the decisions.  I shall watch some more netball sometime – athletes performing with both pace and skill in a game in which there is respect for officials, and the ideals of sportsmanship are embedded into the way it all works.  No wonder the school parties are here in force. #letsgostorm is what I say.

15 Shades of Graham

Hopperational Details for the 2011-12 Season
Dates & Venues	From August 2011 to May 2012, 69 games
Result	225 goals at an average of 3.26 goals per game
Competitions	31 different leagues or cup competitions.
Hopping	62 new venues to take the lifetime list to 465 with four triples and one quadruple
Multiples	August Bank Holiday (Sandhurst, Fleet & Kidlington) Boxing Day (Norwich United & King’s Lynn Town) New Year’s Eve (Bloxwich Utd & Studley) Central Midlands League Quadruple, March 2012 (Clifton, Basford Utd, Dronfield Town & Glapwell) Easter Saturday (Maltby Main. Stocksbridge PS & Worsbrough Bridge Athletic, overlapping the NCEL hop) Easter Monday (Bletchley T & Buckingham T)
Maintaining the 92 & the 116	Brighton & Hove Albion
Outside England	Scotland (St Mirren, Glasgow Celtic) and Wales (Bala Town, Aberystwyth Town)

Here are fifteen shades of Graham for the 2011-12 season.  No, I am not doing fifty.
No, I haven't read it, but I am with the zeitgeist innit.  Enjoy.

1 Corby Press On Corby Town 6 Bishop’s Stortford 1 17 August 2011 (Conference North)

Reason Chosen: This was the first competitive game at Corby’s new stadium.

What’s Happened Since? Bishop’s Stortford’s manager Ian Walker, or former England goalkeeper Ian Walker, and/or son of former Norwich City manager Mike Walker (depending on which paper you read) left the club by mutual consent (although again that depended on which paper etc etc) in December.  The club had been placed in the Conference North (where they will be staying again, it would appear) at a very late stage and player recruitment had been tough.  They recovered to finish a creditable tenth.  Meanwhile, Corby Town have been through a takeover – they finished 17th and have just appointed former Northampton Town boss Ian Sampson as manager for next season.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/corby-press-on.html

2 The Joy of Six Shifnal Town 3 Gornal Athletic 4 aet 24 August 2011 (FA Cup)

Reason Chosen: Completing a personal-best run of six FA Cup ties and replays in consecutive days, publishing the world’s first footage of the International Space Station passing over an FA Cup match, and a magnificent game which included an outfield player saving a penalty with his first touch as a stand-in goalkeeper.

What’s Happened Since? Gornal Athletic went out with credit at Kidsgrove in the next round.  I was there, making a contribution to the season’s record for therealfacup.  In the league, these two served up a 4-5 in December as Gornal won their league with a game to spare.  They move up to the step 5 Alliance Midland League next season.  Shifnal Town finished in lower-mid table.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/joy-of-six.html

3 Hooky Hanging On in the Vase Hook Norton 2 Wokingham & Emmbrook 2 aet 11 September 2011 (FA Vase)

Reason Chosen: Non-league venues at their best – great clubhouse, wind-assisted goals, a cricket boundary line across the pitch and cows in the adjacent field chasing after a wayward ball.

What’s Happened Since? Wokingham & Emmbrook won the replay 2-0 but lost at Winslow United in the next round.  Both teams had mid-table finishes in their respective Hellenic leagues.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/hooky-hanging-on-in-vase.html

4 Market Forces Eventually Win Ely City 3 Needham Market 4 aet 20 September 2011 (FA Cup)

Reason Chosen: Match-of-the-season for me.  A gripping cup-tie played in abysmal weather conditions and a credit to everyone concerned.

What’s Happened Since? Needham Market were beaten at home by Nuneaton Town in the next round.  In their leagues, both teams had promotion near-misses.  Ely City finished runners-up behind Wroxham in the Eastern Counties League.  Needham Market reached the play-offs (again) but lost out to Enfield Town in the final.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/market-forces-eventually-win.html

5 GY Reports From GY Great Yarmouth 0 Felixstowe & Walton United 5 24 September 2011 (Eastern Counties Premier)

Reason Chosen: A chance to watch from the oldest stand in continuous use – the main stand at the Wellesley dates from 1892 – and an example of the randomness that often decides my hopping life.  I was here because the New Zealand All Blacks had scored exactly 37 points in their Rugby Union World Cup win over France.

What’s Happened Since? Great Yarmouth did not win another league game until the last day of the season and they will drop to step 6 next year.  Their AGM on 11 June may be “interesting” as they say in the diplomatic corps.  The club are advertising a number of positions ranging from Treasurer to bus driver.  Felixstowe & Walton finished just above the relegation zone.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/gy-reports-from-gy.html

6 Brighton Rocking as Tigers Come for Teatime Brighton & HA 0 Hull City 0 15 October 2011 (Championship)

Reason Chosen: A trip to Brighton’s impressive new home was needed to keep my current lists of 92 (Premier League, Championship, Leagues One & Two) and 116 (same plus Conference National) up to date.

What’s Happened Since? Hull City finished 8th and Brighton 10th.  As I write, the vacant managerial post at the former is being offered to Steve Bruce.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/brighton-rocking-as-tigers-come-for.html

7 Hoops? Aye, They Did It Again Glasgow Celtic 2 Hibernian 1 23 October 2011 (Scottish Premier League)

Reason Chosen: By far the biggest crowd of the season, the biggest stadium and the highest-ranked club.  Hard not to ignore all that history and feel the pressure, expectation and edge that goes with it.

What’s Happened Since? Celtic duly won the title in a season dominated by off-field issues at their city rivals Rangers.  Hibernian escaped relegation by one place and reached the Scottish FA Cup Final where they were thumped by their city rivals, Hearts.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/hoops-aye-they-did-it-again.html

8 Modus Hopper Random on Ice Milton Keynes Lighting 2 Peterborough Phantoms 2 (Milton Keynes win after shootout) 3 December 2011 (English Premier League Ice Hockey)

Reason Chosen: The blog’s first diversion into the crazy world of grown men with sticks trying to kill each other on ice.  Many thanks to the MK Lightning tweeters who picked up the blogpost and reacted with good humour, making this the second most-viewed post of the season.

What’s Happened Since? I am now up to six on the rinkhopping list and the Northern Hemisphere Net Coriolis Force Zamboni Clockwise Rotation Theory remains intact.  MK made the playoffs but lost out to Slough Jets.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/modus-hopper-random-on-ice.html

9 ‘Twas the Day Before Christmas Dorking Wanderers 3 Storrington 2 24 December 2011 (Sussex County League Division 2)

Reason Chosen: A splendid location for a game on the morning of Christmas Eve, providing an insight into the murky world of groundhopping addiction.

What’s Happened Since? Dorking Wanderers and Storrington finished 3rd and 9th respectively.  Box Hill is still there, as are three hoppers waiting for the programme reprint.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/twas-day-before-christmas.html

10 You Have to be a Linnet to Win It King’s Lynn Town 1 Holbeach United 0 26 December 2011 (United Counties Premier)

Reason Chosen: An impressive crowd of 1040 for a 1st v 2nd clash in step 5.

What’s Happened Since? It seemed at the time that King’s Lynn had got a grip on the division after this result.  They were 12 points ahead on Easter Monday but Long Buckby reeled them in with games in hand, and beat them 2-1 at home with two games to go.  When King’s Lynn could only then draw at home to Desborough Town, Long Buckby made no mistake and won the league.  However, there is a happy ending.  King’s Lynn’s record, with 106 points, gets them a promotion after all from the step 5 pool and they join the Northern Premier League Division One South next season.  Holbeach were overtaken by teams with games in hand and finished sixth.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/you-have-to-be-linnet-to-win-it.html

11 Star in the Descendant as Bloxwich Wake Up Bloxwich 3 Continental Star 2 31 December 2011 (Midland Football Combination Premier)

Reason Chosen: The ending - dramatic, controversial.  Star had been two up and cruising.  See if you agree with the referee's decision by viewing the key clip.

What’s Happened Since? Continental Star went on to win the league by four points, and Bloxwich finished seventh.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/star-in-descendant-as-bloxwich-wake-up.html

12 Hertfordshire Mavericks 47 Surrey Storm 62 19 January 2012 (Netball Superleague)

Reason Chosen: My first-ever diversion into the world of top-tier netball.

What’s Happened Since? Both teams made the mid-season split into the top half.  Storm had been second, just behind Northern Thunder.  However, Storm beat Thunder home-and-away in winning all six post-split matches.  These two ended up facing each other in the grand final after relatively easy playoff semi-final wins.  Mavericks lost to Thunder to go out at that stage.  Thunder won the grand final by 2 points.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/storm-over-hertfordshire.html

13 Lions Use Their Escape Claws at Leicester Leicester Riders 75 Milton Keynes Lions 77 21 January 2012 (British Basketball League)

Reason Chosen: Not the first blog diversion into courthopping, in which I have pre-blogging “previous” at any rate, but the most dramatic.  A buzzer-beating three-pointer from Adrien Sturt, captured on film, sealed a magnificent road win for the Lions.

What’s Happened Since? Lions’ season rather ebbed away and they finished outside the playoff positions, a big disappointment for them.  Riders finished strongly, finished the regular season as runners-up  and made it all the way through to the play-off final where they lost to Newcastle Eagles.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/lions-use-their-escape-claws-at.html

14 Police Called to Shootout in Sussex Three Bridges 2 Gresley 2 aet (Gresley win 7-6 on penalties) 28 January 2012 (FA Vase)

Reason Chosen: The first game, a 1-1 draw, had suggested there could be dramatic unfinished business.  The blogpost includes the world’s first simultaneous video coverage of Venus, Uranus, the Moon and a goal.

What’s Happened Since? After all that, Gresley were thumped at St Ives in the next round.  Both teams, however, can look forward to step 4 as they ended the season as champions in their respective leagues.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/police-called-to-shootout-in-sussex.html and for the original game http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/drawing-in-derbyshire.html

15 Hawayday at the Bay Whitley Bay 1 West Auckland Town 2 18 February 2012 (FA Vase)

Reason Chosen: Having been sent on this journey by the roll of a die, this turned out to be a day dominated by hospitality and hospital.  Under normal circumstances, the teabar notice about Bovril supply would have been enough for a day.  I had not expected to witness Whitley Bay’s first defeat in this competition in four seasons, but the drama was astonishing.  I had footage of a controversial tackle that was over half-an-hour earlier than the consequent red card, delivered when the ambulance had left the pitch.  The three goals in the game were late, later and unbelievably late.  This became the most viewed Modus Hopper Random Blogpost of all time.

What’s Happened Since? I originally published the post with Howayday in the title, but was saved from further embarrassment by prompt instruction in north-eastern vowels by several friendly correspondents.  There really should be a local version of Pygmalion, if you ask me.  (e.g “the rain in the Tyne falls mainly down the drain”)  In following rounds, West Auckland disposed of Bournemouth Poppies and Herne Bay to reach the final at Wembley, where they were runners-up to Dunston UTS.  In their very competitive league, West Auckland also finished second (to Spennymoor Town) and Whitley Bay ended up sixth.

Read and watch more at: http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/hawayday-at-bay.html

Nearly got into the fifteen (you can pick these from the tag cloud on the right):

• Non-League Day 2011 at Stourport Swifts
• Good wins for Witham Town (in the league) and AFC Totton (in the FA Cup)
• Freezing all known appendages at Curzon Ashton
• My Three-Hop Deluxe Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
• The mathematics of Staveley's run of home ties in the FA Vase
• The goalkeeper at the end of a rainbow at Dronfield Town
• The worst ground I have ever visited - sorry, Bletchley Town, it's you
• The location of Colwyn Bay's ground and a goal by Frank Sinclair
• The Vosper Thornycroft Pigeon Club hut at Sholing FC
• Theale's celebrations in winning the Reading Senior League

Thank you for all the interest and encouragement.  I hope to cross paths with more readers next season, randomness allowing, as I seek to get all the current grounds down to Step Three added to my lifetime list.  I will also pay plenty of attention to the early rounds of the FA Cup.  Have a good summer, and look out for the occasional diversion on here!

Storm over Hertfordshire

A seven-foot drama student in a meerkat suit makes a highly effective Goal Keeper (GK),
or failing that, a team mascot

Rachel Dunn nails another one for Storm

Unlike my recent ice hockey tangents, this was the nearest we got to a fight all evening

To play in the centre, you have to be both fit and flexible

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Thursday 19 January at University of Hertfordshire Sports Village, Hatfield
Result	Hertfordshire Mavericks 47 Surrey Storm 62
Competition	Netball Superleague
Hopping	My first ever visit to a netball match, so this goes at #1 on my new Courthopping list.  I am here because of a school trip – the young netball players of St Paul’s Walden School (hello everybody, this is what I do when I am not counting your dinner money) were here en masse with parents and friends.  I only hope that Assistant Coach Mansfield of Surrey Storm will still be speaking to me if she ever reads this!
This match in one sentence
After a close first quarter and a fairly close second, Surrey Storm imposed themselves in the first few minutes of the third and the result was never in doubt from that point on.
So what?
Much too early to say with certainty as this is the first game of a new season, but they should be chuffed to bits in Surrey with this win.
Something random
Fair play to the Sky TV presenter who involved the young supporters before conducting the post-match interview.  Looks to me like they had a great time.
The drama unfolds
I have captured four clips, one from each quarter, to give a sense of the occasion.  The first quarter was keenly contested, and very even for most of it, with Storm just beginning to edge away to a 10-13 lead as it ended.  Here are the final moments.  Surrey Storm are in the pale blue - some would say turquoise. In the second, Mavericks pressed hard to get on level terms but Storm coped with the demands and in the end doubled their lead to go in 22-28 up at the midpoint of the game.  Again, here are the closing moments of the quarter. Whatever was said to the Surrey side at half-time had an effect.  They raced to an eleven-point lead in no time at all and frankly from that point on, the result looked never in doubt.  Some people around me who had clearly played the game purred with pleasure at some of the moves.  They finished the quarter sixteen up at 34-50.  Here’s the clip. If Mavericks were going to do anything to retrieve this, they had to work fast, so my final clip comes from early in the fourth where they held their own.  However the damage had been done and the final margin was fifteen, at 47-62.
Player-of-the-Match
For the inexperienced observer (me) it was hard not to notice the scoring percentage of Storm GS Rachel Dunn.  The official PoM award went to Storm’s Becky Trippick, and I can’t argue with that.  She wins a bunch of flowers and a giant box of biscuits to work off in the gym before next time.
A snippet from the programme
Karen Atkinson, former England captain and head coach for the Mavericks, answers a question about the exodus of top players to the ANZ league. “I am in favour of the National Squad players going to play in the ANZ… it is the best league in the world and the only way they can replicate the pressures of competing in test matches against Australia and New Zealand … we are still striving to have every single game (in this league) played at the highest intensity under extreme pressure in order to replicate international matches.”
What I learned today - *Tongue-in-Cheek Alert*
I have never before watched a game of serious netball, so here for the previously uninformed are some quick headline points to keep you in that state.  I might be a bit confused about some of the fine detail. The match has four quarters, which is good, as it means they won’t need to change the name.  Each is fifteen minutes in length.  Four quarters make a whole, and I have just written myself into one.  There is one point for a goal, when the ball goes through the hoop.  The pitch is divided into thirds with a semicircle at each end and a smaller circle to mark the centre.  The centre circle would be a good name for this. There are seven players on the court at any given time.  All are labelled with a position that carries with it certain rules and restrictions.  For example the GS (goal shooter) plays in the forward third, and can go and hang around under the basket in the semicircle while the other players exhaust themselves trying to get the ball to her.  The Goal Attack (GA) is also allowed in there and the GS pretends to look pleased when the GA gets lots of goals too.  They are the only ones allowed to score. Very few people are allowed in the magic semicircle.  Not even the Sky cameraman. Or even Rupert Murdoch. A player or two from the opposition either with the label GK (goalkeeper) and GD (goal defence) will be trying to stop the GS and the GA from scoring.  This involves standing on tiptoe but falling over just in time to allow the shot to proceed.  Sadly, the GK does not wear giant comedy gloves like they do in football.  The authorities need to consider this. The Wing Attack (WA) can go in the central and attacking thirds except for the semicircle, presumably because GA and GS would sulk. The Wing Defence (WD) will be trying to stop the WA or in fact anyone from going anywhere.  There is also a C (centre) who is undoubtedly some kind of fitness freak who can go anywhere she likes except for the magic semicircles, preferably at speeds just short of a motorbike, but never on one. There are complicated rules about feet but everyone seems to know what they are so that’s fine.  Basically you can only move around when you don't have the ball.  When you have the ball, you pivot on one foot like a demented flamingo for up to two-and-a-half seconds.  You have three seconds to pass the ball, or else something terrible will happen.  After each goal the game restarts from the centre.  Somebody must know the rule about which team restarts.  There's also a rule about the ball having to be caught in each third as it goes up and down, so no lobbing it hopefully from one end to the other. There are two referees called umpires.  They get upset about contact but no-one gives them a hard time.  This is very refreshing, it has to be said.  There are no line judges, but fifteen people sit at nearby tables keeping count and working out all the stats.  Another hundred and fifteen televise the match for Sky.  No fights, no Zambonis, but all good. All joking apart, enormous respect to these two teams who put on a great spectacle, well received by a sizeable, young and enthusiastic crowd with several school parties.  The game is fast at this level.  I gradually learned to watch the build-up play as well as the shots.  Compared with basketball, there is less variation in the actual way in which the ball goes through the hoop.  Therefore there is more to appreciate about the way in which the teams get the ball into the shooting semicircle to create the scoring opportunity.  It is a pass-and-move game requiring physical speed and speed of thought. Great stuff – I love competitive live sport between teams that are enjoying what they are doing, and I got a programme too so I am a happy hopper.  Recommended for a family sporting night out.
What Next?
Back to footy on Saturday, and, weather permitting, an FA Vase game somewhere random, or if weather is dodgy, somewhere close to Hertfordshire.  Could even be some basketball or ice hockey thrown in – I’m on a sporting roll, and look out for more tangents later on this year including some more courthopping and a pilgrimage.  Announcements appear from @GrahamYapp on Twitter along with other random stuff.