Young Men’s Social Club Lady Bluebirds represented Bermuda admirably on their US Open Netball Championships debut in Las Vegas, Nevada.The reigning Senior Winter League champions placed an impressive fourth among the 15 teams that participated at last week’s tournament.Lady Bluebirds completed the group stage of the tournament, involving teams from Australia, Canada, USA and the Caribbean, with a 5-1 record to advance to the knockout stage where they lost to eventual tournament winners Brothers Australia (27-17) in the semi-finals and Collegiate Team USA (23-18) in the consolation final.The Island team were awarded a Sportsmanship Award for their efforts that helped put Bermuda netball on the map.Team manager and assistant coach Shantel DeShield summed up the tour as an overwhelming success.“It was a very successful tour and something we want to do again,” she told The Royal Gazette. “Everyone played exceptionally well but the defence were phenomenal — they actually held it down.”The defence was marshalled by team captain Karlandra Smith while the versatile Ebonie Burgess held her end of the bargain in attack.“The girls did very well and all the other teams were impressed with our play and how we interacted with each other and other teams,” DeShield said. “The umpires were impressed with how we respected them while we were playing.”DeShield said her team’s solid showing surpassed the expectations of many.“We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into because we didn’t know the teams who we were playing or the standard of play,” she added. “But I think we did exceptionally well and did better than a lot of people thought we were going to do.”She said the players gained much from the tour.“We went out there to play netball but at the same time I think all of us grew individually and also as a team because we learned things about ourselves. Hopefully this experience will help us with our netball as well as individuals.”During their stay in Las Vegas, the Bluebirds’ players took advantage of coaching and umpiring workshops held in conjunction with the tournament.“We attended the workshops and received a lot of beneficial information,” DeShield said. “Some of the players took part in the umpires clinic and the other half of the team took part in the coach’s clinic and it was very worthwhile.”The team were invited to participate in the championships after clinching a maiden domestic Senior Winter League title last season.