Young netballers had the benefit of training tips from a coach to professional side Severn Stars.
In a pilot session, teenage players from Westside Netball Club, in Hereford, took part in a training workshop with the University of Worcester's Strength and Conditioning Coach, Marc Scriven, who also performs the same role for Superleague team, Severn Stars.
The experience, the first of its kind in the region, was set up in conjunction with England Netball and it is hoped that it could lead to further sessions with other young teams.
The 14 to 19-year-olds spent the day at the University of Worcester Arena learning how to progress their training. This included a series of weight training exercises, core training exercises and a shuttle run test designed to look at anaerobic endurance.
Jess Neath, 14, of Ledbury, said: "I thought it helped us a lot and it showed us different techniques for training.
"We have enjoyed it and it's inspiring. It shows us something we can aspire to as well."
Mia Williams, 14, who lives near Hereford, said: "It showed us how you can help your netball and how you can take these techniques away and use them in your own gym work.
"It's quite cool the way that Marc has coached the Severn Stars as well as us, it's quite cool to experience that kind of training."
Mr Scriven said: "I think it's the responsibility of a university to do work in the community and use the expertise we have outside of academic study.
"From the perspective of the young athlete, having the opportunity to see what would be expected of a professional athlete and the techniques used gives them a great insight into what it's like to be a professional netball player and what it takes to achieve that.
"It shows them that netball training is not just done on the court. Hopefully this will inspire them to take it to the next level."
Helen Bowden, Senior Coach at the club, which competes in the West Midlands Regional League, said: "For many of the younger girls it was their first time being exposed to strength and conditioning properly outside of netball training. It was a brilliant introduction from real experts into why they need to do it in terms of their on-court performance and for injury prevention and, as importantly, why they need to do the exercises properly. It was also great to learn about the regimes of elite athletes, which was both inspiring for the girls as well as being a benchmark of performance."
Lindsay Hacking, England Netball's Netball Development Officer for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, said: "This opportunity arose from the growing links between new Superleague franchise Severn Stars and the local community. The workshop was the first of its kind in the area and something the young players relished. In the future we hope that other clubs across the region will benefit from similar opportunities and that more young players will aspire to play top level netball locally."
Severn Stars is a joint franchise between the University of Worcester and University of Gloucestershire.