JORGE PLAYS KEY ROLE IN NARROW VICTORY FOR LEEDS RHINOS NETBALL TEAM 

Jorge Lumley, Year 10 student at Richmond School, plays netball for Leeds Rhinos (North East). The team competes in the U17 Netball Performance League (NPL) along with ten other teams from across the country. This is netball at the highest national level! The aim of the league, as the England Netball website states, is: “…to provide the game’s outstanding youth players with a performance environment and to organise for them regular, highly disciplined and intense competition.”  

The Leeds Rhinos team recently travelled down to Guildford, Surrey to play a league fixture against Pulse Power, one of the strongest teams in the league. Graeme, Jorge’s dad, takes up the story:  

“This was a game against the one of UK’s strongest U17 sides in the NPL – Pulse Power.  

Jorge’s team took an early lead and held Pulse by 1-2 points for much of the first two quarters. However, Pulse’s strength showed into the end of the second quarter and they started Q3 7points ahead. 
Jorge played most of Q1 but came off late in Q2.  

She was brought back on in Q3 and quickly took the game to the opposition, despite being up against one of the country’s best defenders.  

With only minutes to go, Leeds pulled level and in the final seconds got themselves ahead and held Pulse at bay to win by 1 point. A massive win for her and the team!”  

This fixture was round 4 of 11 in the league and put Leeds Rhinos (North East) in third place, behind London Mavericks and London Pulse. You can follow the league and even watch the matches at this link:  

https://tinyurl.com/U17NPLNetball2025  

We look forward to hearing more about Jorge’s netball as the season progresses – good luck to her and the Leeds Rhinos!  

Photos. Jorge is the player on the right of the squad list. She is at the back on the right of the team photo and 5th from right with the scoreboard.