The third year of Chiltern Challenger’s has been varied. Numbers from Princes Risborough School have dropped and may be due to the loss of Sam Jones from the club as she continuously and tirelessly recruited girls from the school to join the Challengers. Players from Wycombe High School have increased. We now have 3 girls, encouraged by Livvy Sklenar, who regularly attend from Wycombe High. Livvy, along with Sam Miles, Charlotte Penn and Phil Hill have all been training with the ladies this year and the latter two have successfully played for the team.

Competition in the CVL Ladies section at Stoke Mandeville has also been varied. It proved the right decision to ensure games went ahead to enter the girls in to the ladies section but we hope as a club that next year they will be able to compete in their own section due to the increase in numbers at training.

Aylesbury Dux proved unbeatable for us during the season but we came close on a couple of occasions proving to the girls that their skill level is continuously improving. Competition from Milton Keynes has allowed the girls to compete against players at more of their own level and the girls have enjoyed several wins against this team.

We have also been able to enjoy competition from the local County squad in which the girls were defeated away and won at home.

The change in training time has proved detrimental in terms of progressing players to the ladies team since many of them find the 10pm finish too late mid week. It should be considered for next season to bring the training time of both sessions forward an hour.

The summer training sessions have seen a drop off in attendance from the girls but I think this is due to their exam commitments and am certain they will attend again once this period is over. The girls have enjoyed their competition this year and I feel it is essential to ensure they are entered in to a league of some sort for next year. We need to continue to recruit as a club to ensure numbers stay buoyant as more Chiltern Challengers move up in to the ladies division of the club.

Charlotte Gale
Challengers Head Coach