Great Dunmow Netball Club

So far we have been on tour twice.  The first time, we went to Bournemouth and the second was to Great Yarmouth.

Netball tours are a great way for teams to go away for a weekend, meet up with new teams from around the country, play lots of games and have great social evenings.

Tours vary in length, venue, cost and ability.

We chose the two tours that we did, as we felt they were within our ability range (as well as the fact that Bournemouth has fab nightlife!).

What's it like on tour?  Here's an example of one:

Our first tour was to Bournemouth.  We travelled on the Friday to arrive at our hotel, unpack, settle in, unwind and visit the beach for chips!  Some players met up with us later that evening due to work committments.  We met for drinks in the bar and started off the evening with a quick round of drinks and banter, before heading out for our eveing meal (Italian).  Following a scrumptious meal (and too many shots) we headed out to the bars all located along a strip.  The phrase pub crawl, became literal for some (as some didn't even make it out of the restaurant) and we finally made it to a bar/club, bumping into many netball/football/rugby teams on tour along the way.  The atmosphere was great and we all partied well into the early hours!

With sore heads (and back ache from pole dancing), we met for breakfast name and shames, then hit the netball courts on Saturday morning for 9am.  There we competed in a netball rally, fast and fun, whilst bumping into players from other teams we'd met the night before (with equally sore heads and wobbly legs).

Late afternoon, it was back to our hotels for some leisure time, a gentle stroll, or a quick jog on the beach.  For me it was bed for a couple of hours catch up!  Then onto Saturday nights activities.  This time we met in our hotel bar for some drinks, and competed in a quiz organized by a couple of our club members.  It was then off for yummy Indian meal, followed by drinking and dancing in the bars/clubs.  We didn't quite manage to stay out as late as the previous night, but I gave it a good stab, and had to be dragged back at around 1am (I had had my power nap after all).

After a zonked out sleep it was up again for Sunday mornings netball rally.  Teams were all wearing a bit thin by this time, so we felt we were pretty much well in with a chance.  We decided the ones that got to the top, probably went to bed at 7pm and hadn't had any fun (well, that was our theory anyway).

We were off on our way home at around 1pm, happy but exhausted after a fab work hard/play hard weekend.  To cap it off, we stopped at a carvery on the way home (hoping the kids/hubbies had sorted out their own food/washing/ironing/homework etc) so that we could jump into our beds upon our return (fat chance!)

Going on tour was a great break from our normal daily routines.  It gave us a chance to get away from everything, have a really good laugh, play a game that we all enjoy and build team spirit.  I would reccomend it to everyone.