After such a momentus win by the England netball team on Sunday morning, claiming the Commonwealth games gold medal, Sidmouth Netball Club celebrated with a coaching session delivered by two of Team Bath’s Superleague players.
Rachel Shaw and Paige Reed made the trip to Sidmouth to coach 40 girls from the club. They took them through attacking skills, movement and reaction times.
The girls all thoroughly enjoyed the session with some inspired to go home and carry on practising.
Afterwards the girls got an opportunity to ask the Bath duo some questions about netball and their experiences of the game.
Rachel and Paige had both travelled far and wide in Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and Africa to play netball.
Sidmouth Netball Club will celebrate its second birthday in a couple of weeks. Louise Hastie, who coaches the U12s at the club, said: “Some of us have been playing together for the last 12 years, but it was only two years ago that we decided to expand into a junior section.
“We were supported through the Keith Owen Fund and EDDC with the start-up costs and since then we haven’t looked back.
“We now have seven junior teams playing in the Exeter and District Junior Netball League and three senior teams playing in the Honiton Ladies League.
“We have started a ‘Back to Netball’ session on Thursdays for ladies and we would like to start a High Five (U11) and U18 training session.”
She continued: “We need more coaches, though, as Louise Neilson and myself both work full-time so aren’t able to commit anymore at the moment.
“If there is anyone out there who would be interested in getting involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, via email at sidmouthnetball@gmail.com.
“It’s been a really rewarding experience and it’s been a pleasure to see some of the girls improve and develop as team players.”
In the Honiton Netball League the club have also been doing well. Sidmouth Eagles, sponsored by The Volunteer Inn, and comprising of the club’s U16 players, entered for the first time this season.
Playing against many established and experienced senior players, they completed the campaign as runners-up in the division.
What’s more they were unbeaten in their campaign and will now line up in the top division when a new Winter league gets underway again in September.
Sidmouth Chicks, sponsored by The Elizabeth Hotel, are made up of U18 players, and they also finished the season as runners-up in their division, just pipped to the post on goal difference by an experienced Flamingoes team.
The girls secured this position after a narrow defeat to HiQ, who had brought in reinforcements to their team after losing to Chicks earlier in the season!
And finally, Sidmouth Toucans, the veteran campaigners at the club, sponsored by The Anchor and Sidmouth Bike Studio, are the original players from the club and they completed their campaign managing to hold on to their place in the top division thanks to a win in their final match against Honiton 3Ts.
It all means that Sidmouth Netball Club will have three teams playing in the first division next season unless the league expands further and adds extra divisions.
Louis Hastie says: “The club is feeling quite proud right now of how we have encouraged and promoted netball here in Sidmouth over the last two years.
“We have had so much assistance and enthusiasm from the town to help us on this journey, we would like to say thank you to you all.
“Going forward there are so many more things we could do. This is a really exciting time to be involved in the sport of netball and we can’t wait for the Netball World Cup which is being held in Liverpool next year.”
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