To the Essex Sports Arena! …on Saturday afternoon.
This was the first double header of the new season for the Essex Rebels. It also coincided with the students finally being back on campus. As ever the Rebs organisation had put in a fine effort in marketing the games to both students and local families.
My first obstacle to overcome was the return of the student mediaeval jousting thingy. This is weird, but each to their own. It takes place every Saturday afternoon in one of the University car parks. We’re talking full on mediaeval garms and massive fuck off battlements with plenty of sticks flying around.
This all meant that the pre game Fan Zone outside the Essex Sports Arena was a little more sedate. I still wasn’t quite in the mood to go ahead with a full on Rebs face painting experience.
The Women’s Super League team were up first with a home court game against what is usually a very strong Leicester Riders. It was great to see Megan Haines back wearing a Rebs jersey after a few seasons away. Once a Rebs, always a Rebs, etc.
There’s been plenty of change over the summer months up at Our House. The women have a new Head Coach in young Tor Freeman. I say young coach but I’m not exactly sure of his precise age. He certainly brings a youthful feel to the organisation.
There were also new faces making their home debut on court alongside some more familiar Rebs fan favourites.
It’s always reassuring to see Captain Claire Paxton leading the line on court. She’s the Ryan Yates of the Essex Rebels. Coaches may come and go, but each and every one of them always puts their faith in picking Paxton. She’s something of a Rebels legend these days.
Rebels got off to a storming start. It looks like new coach Freeman is continuing with the same style of play, which basically involves pace and plenty of attack.
Rebs' mascot, Queen B, was out at the front entertaining the family crowd. And then out of nowhere, a cow in a full on mascot costume suddenly appeared. I have no idea what was going on there.
Rebs put in a fine first quarter performance, with all of their three pointers sinking. They took a commanding 31-10 lead into the second quarter.
Riders then managed to settle in the second. They were still finding it tough to come to terms with some of the new Rebels' tactics.
One of these was a really effective set play involving four players taking on a Gareth Southgate style train line formation, before then all peeling off and the ball being delivered to the final shooter.
Rebels were still out in front come the half time buzzer, leading 48-26. The challenge for the third and fourth was not to let such a strong lead slip.
The third period was much of the same. SHOUT OUT to Cerys Leach, who sunk a fantastic three pointer right on the buzzer to give Rebels a 68-43 win into the final quarter.
Having started the game so fast it was inevitable that the home team couldn’t keep up the pace. The final quarter was all about game management and making sure a home win was achieved.
A final scoreline of 94-62 to the Rebels seemed about fair, in what was a very decent home debut for new Head Coach Freeman.
