This week we are doing an around the region special for our final WedNEWSday story of 2023. 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:

Cornwall WOW moments:

Devon WOW moments:

Dorset WOW moments:

Gloucestershire WOW Moments:

Jersey WOW moments:

Somerset WOW moments:

Wiltshire WOW moments:

Regional WOW moments:

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk). Something exciting happening where you are? Don’t forgot to use #netballsw.

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our WedNEWSday articles.

After 9 weeks of matches we have reached the halfway point of the 2023-2024 South West Regional League and what an exciting few weeks it has been! With teams battling it out to reach the top spot, the regional league has certainly showcased the fantastic skill of the South West players.

In Regional League 1, teams compete for the coveted titles of Regional Champions and the opportunity to compete in the National play-offs for promotion to England Netball National Premier League Division 3.

Hucclecote Comets are currently at the top of the table with Team Jets following closely behind. Can they continue their winning streak when they take on Poole on Sunday 14th January?

Teams in Regional League 2 are competing for promotion into the NSW Regional League 1 and to avoid relegation into Regional League 3.

Premier Romans B are holding the top spot in Regional League 2. After winning all 8 of their matches, they really are the team to beat. Can they maintain their winning streak when they play Hucclecote Stars on Saturday 13th January?

Regional League 3 is made up of 2 divisions - RL3 North and RL3 South. Teams have joined the Regional League structure to battle it out for a place in the NSW Regional League 2, who will come out top?

Regional League 3 North are currently being led by Babylon with Crossbow snapping at their heels, both on 37 points.  

In Regional League 3 South Exeter Netball Club (ENC) Nova’s are holding the top spot having won 8 of their 9 matches with TTNC Titans currently second. Will ENC Nova’s hold their top spot and make it to Regional League 2?

Keen to stay up to date with the latest results and fixtures? Then click here.

A big thank you to all the clubs, coaches and officials for their commitment to making the regional league happen and good Luck to all teams in the Regional League. Be sure to tag @netballsw in your team photos. We can’t wait to see what the new year brings and who will be in for a promotion and who will be relegated.

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

Dart Netball Club from South Devon are running a crowdfunding campaign to support the development of a netball court suitable for regional competition at Torbay Leisure Centre.

The South West Club of the Year at 2023 One Awards have over 280 members playing in 20 junior teams and 5 senior teams. They were founded in 2015 and won Torbay Sports Club of the year in 2018.

Their goal is to draw new lines for one court across the existing two courts. The new court would meet the size and especially the run off requirements for England Netball 'Club' facilities classification, enabling them to play South West regional matches at their home facilities in Paignton.

There are some fantastic rewards available for pledges which have been provided by England Netball, the club and local businesses. These include Christmas Tree vouchers, Bee Netball water bottles, Netballs, sports socks and perfume sets.

The Dart Netball Crowdfunder ends on 8th Dec 2023 please support this fantastic club to reach their target.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dart-netball---torbay-court-upgrade

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our wedNEWSday articles.

Taunton Netball Club (TNC) are leading the way in Somerset, offering inclusive netball opportunities for all, as they launch their 'Taunton Treasures' taster sessions for all mainsteam primary aged children with additional needs or disabilities.

At the heart of TNCs core values is inclusion and ensuring all participants have the opportunity to play and enjoy sport in a safe space.  With the support of “The Cooper Associates Foundation” and their sponsorship, TNC are able to offer these sessions free for young people to attend ensuring those who find cost a barrier have equal opportunity.   

TNC noticed that this was an opportunity for something that hasn’t yet been tried in their area, and with the help and support of their vastly experienced volunteer group, these sessions will help provide a stepping stone for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities in Taunton and the surrounding area to try our fantastic sport.

The project lead, Susie Freeman and her dedicated team of volunteers are absolutely delighted to be able to bring these pilot sessions to life and look forward to welcoming participants on the 3rd December and 7th January. 

"My son Billy is on the SEN register at school. I was recently looking at different sports clubs that can cater for his needs and unfortunately there isn’t a huge amount of options available in Taunton for his age. It made me think of how accessible Taunton Netball Club is and whether we cater for all. I would love for children like Billy to have the opportunity to play netball. I put this to club members as an idea and had an overwhelming amount of support from club members offering their time to help and this is how Taunton Treasures was formed. We will be holding two taster sessions to see what the uptake is, with the ultimate aim being this is something that we offer more regularly. We’re fortunate that many of the Treasures volunteers are either qualified netball coaches, are SEN Parents themselves, or are highly experienced in working with young children with SEN through their employment. We have also been lucky to have received financial support from The Coopers Associate Foundation, which means the taster sessions can be free for children to attend.   I’m really excited and proud that Taunton Netball Club are able to offer this." - Susie Freeman (Taunton Treasures Project Lead)

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

As the new netball season is well underway, it’s time for some new changes in the South West team, with some familiar faces back in the team! Fern Noott has returned from maternity leave to resume her role as Cornwall’s Netball Development Officer. Lucy Lawrence, who has been covering the Cornwall NDO role, has recently taken up a national role within England Netball as Coaching Project Manager, and so we waved her farewell from the South West team at the end of October.

Fern Noott

We will also be saying farewell to Rachel Bussey, our wonderful Gloucestershire Netball Development Officer and Team Leader, from the South West team at the end of December, as she has recently taken up a national role as Partnerships & Delivery Experience Lead. As a result of this we are now looking for a new Gloucestershire Netball Development Officer, details of the role can be found here.

A little reminder of who to contact in your county:

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our WedNEWSday articles.

On Sunday 29th October, South Devon Tennis Centre in Ivybridge, Devon, hosted our second Netball South West Walking Netball Festival of the year. After a successful event last year the venue was really pleased to be welcoming Walking Netball back. Especially as they have their own Walking Netball session starting on 14th November so are hoping to have their own team for next years event.

With 6 teams from across Devon and Cornwall taking part, it was a fun day of Walking Netball competition with a focus on socialising with other teams and time added into the schedule for tea and cake.

Shout out to the winners St Agnes and the runners up Wonford Wanderers, and a huge thank you to all the teams that took part.

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our WedNEWSday articles.

Tucked away behind the busy A31 dual carriageway in Dorset, is the St Leonards and St Ives Village Hall, home to the Ashley Heath WI and their newly formed Walking Netball group. This has all come about thanks to the energy of the WI Walking Netball Ambassador, Gaynor Waring, and Ashley Heath WI Chair, Sue Coleman. Between them they promoted the idea of Walking Netball to the WI and the wider Ashley Heath community and worked with the St Leonards and St Ives Parish Council who have provided netball posts and access to the village hall.

The initiative is an incredible success with over 50 ladies participating throughout the first 15 sessions and each week there are over 20 attendees with many ladies in their late 70s/early 80s. Most have not played netball since school and came along for their first session out of curiosity, yet they are now hooked, and netball Tuesdays have become the highlight of the week.

Sarah Clark, Dorset Netball Development Officer, has been running the sessions and she commented that “Tuesday afternoons make my heart sing, hearing the laughter and chatter and seeing the improvement week by week is just unbelievable”.

The group do a warm up, then work on basic ball skills and movements as well as defending and shooting activities. Each week they do some match play and participants are encouraged to join in with as much or as little as they want to. The group have noticed improvement in their fitness, their balance, their coordination and most importantly in their wellbeing. There is a family feel to the group and mum and daughter June and Heather Laird attend together most weeks and June’s granddaughters Annabelle Laird and Charlotte Court have also attended.

Although this is a WI group, it is also open to the St Leonards and St Ives Community and this has led to new friendships and also new members of the WI. The group are keen to continue, and Jenny Elliot, Catriona Johnson and Susan Carter attended the England Netball Walking Netball Host course in October and will take over the group with the support of Sarah Clark.

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our wedNEWSday articles.

On Saturday 14th October, the National ONE Awards took place at The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield. South West Regional winners, their guests, and members of Netball South West Regional Management Board, came together with other volunteers from across the country to celebrate all the incredible work each and every one of them do to make netball happen.

Out of the 10 South West winners we are thrilled that two won National Awards! Linda Andrews won the Coach of the Year (Adults) Award and Alisha Gardener won the Young Volunteer of the Year Award. In addition to the ONE Award winners, Barbara Warburton was awarded the England Netball Long Service Award, and Wiltshire County Netball Association were awarded the Special Recognition Award for their superb women’s health netball festival held earlier this year, inspired by Mo Squires, and combining expert education on many female health topics in relation to England Netball’s new programme, NETBALLHer.

“I was honoured to be representing the South West and truly overwhelmed to be recognised by England Netball as Coach of the Year.  I have been inspired by so many special coaches over the years and lucky to have coached and been involved with such wonderful players.  I am very grateful to everyone who has contributed to my coaching journey.” – Linda Andrews (Coach of the Year)

Alisha Gardener - Young Volunteer of the Year

"Alisha began volunteering as a netball coach at the age of 14, gaining Level 2 status by the time she was 18 years old, having followed the “Pass On Your Passion” programme, rapidly reaching 100 hours of volunteering.  She is now Head Coach at Queens Netball Club, where she supports players and coaches of all ages and abilities. Alisha clearly loves Netball and has a positive attitude which encourages people around her to engage in warm ups, training drills and gameplay.  She promotes the club to people in the community and make new members feel welcome, involved and part of the group."

“The reasons for organising the Wiltshire County Netball Associations Women’s Health Tournament were three-fold. Primarily to raise awareness of women’s health conditions and symptoms and treatments, secondly to raise money for three cancer related charities, and last but not least to enjoy a great day of netball, the sport we all love, be it League, Walking or Bees! We’re so proud that our efforts have been recognised by England Netball and are really chuffed to receive the Special Recognition Award, it means a lot, and the synergy of our tournament and England Netball’s NETBALLHer initiative is clear to see. Our sincere thanks go out to our very generous sponsors, our army of volunteers, officials, players and spectators, we could not have done it without their help and support.” – Cathy Caulfield, Wiltshire County Netball Association Marcomms Lead

A bit about Barb!

Having played and umpired for Drifters Netball club in the 1980s, Barb started volunteering on the Gloucestershire County committee in 1987, taking on various roles, and was instrumental in setting up formal mentoring programmes and assessment pathways for learners.

She is on the County Officiating Working Group and still actively involved in mentoring and supporting C and B umpires. Her no-nonsense approach and reputation is well known across the county leagues. When Barb enters the sports hall on a Saturday with her clipboard, there is a noticeable quickening of pace by the umpires! She has supported Hucclecote's National Premier team as a Technical Official for home matches for some seasons, and has previously been a Technical official for both Team Bath and Severn Stars home matches.

Thank you to the thousands of volunteers who help to make our incredible sport what it is, netball would not happen without you.

If you’re interested in finding out more about volunteering in netball, click here.

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk). Something exciting happening where you are? Don’t forgot to use #netballsw.

All photos courtesy of Flynn Duggan (@flynnduggan.photography)

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our WedNEWSday articles.

Secondary schools across Devon are being offered the chance to take part in a brand new pilot initiative to deliver female health awareness through physical education, to help reduce the number of girls who drop out of sport during puberty. 

Stats show that 67 per cent of girls across the UK stop taking part in physical activity during or after puberty.  The menstrual cycle has a huge impact on female activity levels and to those dropping out of sport or not taking part. The pilot, co-designed by England Netball and Swansea University, was brought to Devon through a collaboration with Active Devon. It aims to support teachers to provide education on this area and the reasons why, and how the menstrual cycle does not need to hold girls back from taking part in sport.

The pilot will feature a three-week lesson plan for teachers which educates secondary aged pupils on the menstrual cycle, how to manage it, what products are out there that can help them, some education of breast health and support and then how they can continue to be active through embedding netball across the lesson plans. The pilot includes three lessons to be delivered across a 6-week period and nine schools across Devon have already expressed an interest to take part. The first lesson is intended to create an understanding of female health among all students, helping to break the taboo around discussing menstruation and the impact on activity levels.

Kelly Gordon, Director of Development and Executive Lead for NETBALLHer at England Netball, said: “We are super excited to be doing a pilot in Devon which brings the two worlds together, education and sport, to work with secondary schools to help address the drop out during puberty. There are a number of life stages that impact female lives both on and beyond the court and during these vulnerable times, women and girls are more likely to worry about showing up authentically, and stop playing, just when they need support the most. As a result of the findings, we have launched NETBALLHer, which aims to support women and girls at every life stage with their female health and female body.  We need to help them to help understand their bodies to help prevent that drop out.”

Working alongside England Netball to bring the pilot initiative to schools in Devon is Dr. Natalie Brown – a Research Officer based at Swansea University. Natalie said: “My area of research is all around the menstrual cycle, participation in physical activity and sport performance. We’ve created a team to help provide some solutions and support in terms of menstrual education and being able to stay active during puberty and during PE, with a special focus on netball. The schools’ pilot is starting in November, and we are offering menstrual education lessons, with a focus on staying active, movement and specifically within netball and how we can use that platform to try and help support girls to stay active during puberty and change that figure relating to the drop out that we do see.”

Karen Jones, Partnerships Manager at Active Devon, who have been instrumental in bringing this pilot scheme to Devon said: “We are delighted we have been able to bring this fabulous initiative to Devon schools. It’s very important for women and girls of all ages in Devon to be active and take part in sport and not to have any health worries which prevent them from taking part and being active. We know that being active is great not only for their physical health but for their mental health.

We’ve heard from England Netball about issues that stop teenage girls from taking part in PE but netball and other activities can enrich the lives of women from five to 95 years and across their life stages they will face a number of hurdles that will hold them back. At Active Devon, we want women and girls to show up and take part in whatever activity they enjoy, on and off the court, and we encourage all women and girls to be active for their physical and mental health.”

Jennifer Kelly, England Netball’s Development Officer for Devon adds: “I am so excited that Devon has been chosen to pilot the learning offer. Devon has a thriving school netball community but even so we notice a drop out of girls through puberty, I hope that being part of this initiative we will keep more teenage girls in netball and part of the wider Devon netball family.”

The pilot will be followed by a focus group delivered by Swansea University and is hoped to be delivered more widely across the UK next year. If any secondary schools in Devon wish to get involved, there is an online webinar available on 9th November 2023 4pm-5pm. Click this link to find out more information – NETBALLHer Menstrual Cycle Learning Offer for Secondary School Teachers (office.com).

England Netball has developed a new website which covers all life stages and all female health topics.  It supports teachers and coaches and anyone working with women and girls. For more information on NETBALLHer, visit: www.netballher.co.uk.

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our wedNEWSday articles.

Following the sudden closure of Gloucestershire’s home of netball (The Arena at Oxstalls Sports Park) at the end of last month, within 10 days all Gloucestershire’s c.350 netball players, coaches and umpires were back on court doing what they do best.

Gloucestershire County Netball Association (GCNA) – the voluntary committee that manage both adult and junior netball within Gloucestershire - were only 24 hours away from starting their competitive winter season when the news broke with no warning leaving over 300 women and young girls without a sports venue that weekend. In addition, there were numerous junior regional tournaments scheduled for the Sunday with teams travelling from as far as Jersey to compete - another tranche of players left without a venue or tournament to secure their place for the competitive season ahead.

Despite this adversity, GCNA sprung into action immediately finding (albeit short time at this stage) solutions to get their netballers back on court and league week one underway. Extensive conversations and site visits were had with local venues, other sports providers and England Netball, resulting in 59 adults and junior clubs taking to court last week.

Nicola Parry, GCNA Adult working group lead comments:

“As a team of dedicated volunteers, we plan our leagues 12 months in advance so to receive less than 24 hours’ notice before the first game of the season that we were to lose our main triple court arena, leaving over 300 players displaced on one Saturday alone, with nowhere to play was quite the predicament. We had no immediate communications on when, how or even if we would regain access to our venue.

Thanks to local schools and sports venues, Barnwood Park School, Leckhampton High School, Hartpury College, Leisure @ Cheltenham and YMCA Sports Centre we have managed to beg and borrow to get the league back on its feet.”

This incredible turnaround demonstrates the well connected, dedicated committee at the helm of netball in Gloucestershire, and on behalf of all those that are involved in netball in the county, thank you. GCNA are continuing to work hard and explore all options to find a longer-term solution for our netball community.

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 Officer (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).

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