This week we are doing a round the region special for our final wedNEWSday story of 2022. Each county Netball Development Officer has picked their counties top 3 highlights for the year and what a fantastic year it has been with lots of WOW moments happening around the region.
Avon WOW moments:
Over 60 young Avon netballers participated in Netball Youth Camps throughout the year, learning new skills, meeting new friends and most importantly having lots of fun.
Officiating has been really busy recently with new mentors attending courses and learning in situ with our lead mentors. Lots of mentoring going on within the league and at friendly matches at both Into, C and B level.
Successful running of a Walking Netball Host Training in Bristol which has led to 13 newly qualified Walking Netball Hosts.
Cornwall WOW moments:
4 amazing volunteers recognised at the South West Regional ONE Awards with Liberty Hartley winning the Coach of the Year (Children and Young People) and Kathryn Pearn winning the Inclusion Award category and representing the South West in the National ONE Awards in Birmingham.
Falcons Netball Club from Redruth had a masterclass with Super League players in Loughborough.
4 newly qualified officiating mentors. These Officials have a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience to offer and the transmission of which will be of considerable benefit to trainee and qualified officials in Cornwall.
Devon WOW moments:
Bee Netball Trailblazer clubs Honiton Netball Club and Dart Netball Club have been running and will continue in January 2023 for term 2.
East Devon were really pleased to have a national One Award winner Louise Hastie and 400 hrs Pass on Your Passion award for Sian Kelly.
Successful running of the second South West Walking Netball Festival at the South Devon Tennis Centre, Ivybridge where 9 teams from Cornwall, Devon and Somerset competed in matches in 2 categories, ‘in it to win it’ and ‘just for fun’.
Dorset WOW moments:
SW Regional schools final came back to Dorset after a year’s break for COVID. Izzy, Abi, Erin, Jess and Julie from The Blandford School helped the day go smoothly by supporting the organisation of the event.
The first Walking Netball Tournament in the SW since returning from COVID. Over 100 ladies attended including 4 teams from Dorset.
A chance to train with Kim Borger of Team Bath for girls from Poole High School and from junior netball clubs across Dorset.
Gloucestershire WOW moments:
Three clubs have accessed the NSW New Starter Club Fund – two senior clubs and a junior club. One other new club in the county is hoping to apply early in the new year
Our total current membership number is 1,771*, which equates to 85% of our target and a 7% increase in membership on last year (the overall target for 2022/23 is 2,072) *as of 14/12/2022
Six successful Netball Youth Camps have run this year in Gloucestershire with plenty more planned for 2023!
Jersey WOW moments:
Our new YouthNets structure has had an extremely successful first term! Over 230 children in years 6-9 have been participating weekly in these sessions.
JNA Community Support – Food Drive. We have been making monthly food collections for St Helier Methodist Centre and Age Concern who are committed to tackling food poverty by providing emergency food supplies. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our netball community.
Move more ability sessions: Jersey Netball continues to partner with Jersey Sport to deliver sport inclusion sessions to islanders with disabilities over the age of 18.
Somerset WOW moments:
Wellington Netball club established this year and have gone from strength to strength. This is all thanks to the huge amount of hard work and commitment from their committee of passionate ballers who have not only supported a thriving junior and senior section but launched as a Bee Netball Trailblazer club with 18 plus Bee Members. Term 1 has been so successful they are now raring to go for Term 2 to start on 10th January 2022.
As a county, Somerset is passionate about providing the youth with as many opportunities to participate in our fantastic sport no matter what stage of their netball journey they are on. In partnership with Kings College, we have run two very well supported Performance NYC’s, packed with content and of course loads of opportunity to play the game! The date for our February half term camp is due to be released soon so watch this space.
Somerset Walking Netball continues to be pulling in the numbers with programmes in Yeovil, Taunton and now Wellington. A group of passionate ladies in the Wellington area contacted me to say their WI walking netball numbers had dwindled and could EN support then re-establish. In September this year we launched a new session held at Court Field School, Monday 7-8pm, Hosted by me. The group numbers have gone from strength to strength, and they even competed in the Tri County WN festival in Ivybridge this month. They are a inclusive and friendly bunch so please come and join in for a session, starting back 9th January.
Wiltshire WOW moments:
Dorcan Netball Youth Camp – October 2022: amazing netballers took part in an action-packed netball day – our first camp since the pandemic.
Bee Netball Trailblazer Club: Spire Reds Netball Club engaged 5-9 Year old's in Salisbury through our Bee Programme. Helping the children to not just develop on the court but off too.
One Awards / Long Service Award: Selfless volunteers nominated from Wiltshire and huge success at the South West Awards and at the National One Awards. Amazing to see the volunteers in the county being recognized and thanked for all they do.
Thank you to EVERYONE who is helping provide netball opportunities throughout the region, have a lovely Christmas!
If you have a good news story that you would like to share please send your story and a picture to the South West Regional Coordinator (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).
