Top Young Netballers on Way to Worcester for England Showdown
Wednesday, 17 August 2016
Some of the Country's best young netball players will gather in Worcester next month for a major competition.
England Netball is hosting its newest competition, the 2016 U21 September Showdown Championships, at the University of Worcester Arena on September 11.
Teams featuring the best U21s representing Hertfordshire Mavericks, Loughborough Lightning, Manchester Thunder, Surrey Storm, Team Bath, Team Northumbria, University of Worcester and West Midlands Warriors will battle it out.
The contest will give a taste of the excitement that's to come in the 2016/17 Netball Performance League and Vitality Netball Superleague, which will this year feature the new Severn Stars team, a partnership between the University of Worcester and the University of Gloucestershire.
Sheli Morgan, Director of Netball at the University of Worcester, said: "We are really excited to be hosting this U21 championships in Worcester, so soon after our Superleague franchise was announced. We are bringing top class netball to the region."
The contest is the latest in a string of netball successes for Worcester. Sheli and a team of netballers from the University have just returned from the World University Netball Championships in Miami, where they were an invitational team representing Great Britain.
Worcester was invited following an outstanding result in the British Colleges and Universities Sports (BUCS) season, when the University's 1st team secured promotion to the Premier division and won the BUCS Trophy Final.
The event brought universities from all over the world together, with teams from the USA, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Australia, Jamaica and Uganda taking part.
"It really was an amazing opportunity for all involved " getting to play netball against some of the best players in the world is something none of the girls will ever forget," said Sheli. "For example, when we took to the court against Jamaica " five of their players were from the Jamaican Senior National Team.
"Whilst results didn't go our way, they by no means reflect the standard of netball that the University of Worcester played; they were complimented all week on being strong and for always fighting" we never gave up."