Stage 4= development squads, the players selected in stage 3 are selected for academies which provided extra training. There are two types academies- Satellite academies; for girls aged 12-14, its locally based and involves 60 hours of support a week. The second is partnership academies- for girls aged 14-16 and involves fitness training and 80 hours of support per week.
Local- In my local area there is not that many grass roots schemes, but WOKSSA runs festivals for local primary using junior sports leaders from my school (encouraging coaching in young people) and hold tournaments for the primary schools. This gets children into the idea of netball and help to prepare them for more serious netball. This is similar to the first stage of the national scheme as most players are aged 10-11 and don’t belong to a club.
Provision for the Elite
This is the Pathway that have on their website.
1. Satellite and county partnership academy- learning to train.
2. Regional talent programme- training to train
3. Talent 1 and 2 U17/U19 squads
4. TASS and super league + England U19/U21
5. National Squad- training to win
National-
Stage 1-In each region there is a regional head scout (RHS) the RHS in my area is Denis Holland. The RHS is responsible for providing a performance standards workshop for teachers and coaches in the Kent area. They can nominate players who fit the criteria so they (the players) can go on the programme. A player must spend between 6 months and the 2 years at this stage.
Stage2-To get on this stage from the previous the player must be nominated by their county. They spend between 1 and 2 years at this stage. The players must attend the national screening day in March to reach the next stage.
Stage3- There are about 20 players in these squads. These players receive training at the weekends from January to September
Stage4- players who play in the U17/U19 are automatically nominated as TASS athletes. This makes them part of the super league. The selection for national squads is done via the super league.
Stage5-You must be aged 16 or over to compete in the national squad.
Local-My local sports partnership offers a FANS scheme, which provides opportunities for players who reach stage 4. This gives a lot of benefits such as small grants, discounts from physiotherapy in Kent, free use of facilities and a free personal coach. This scheme was established in Kent in 1998. This is an important plan in providing support for the county’s leading talented and elite performers.
Additional agencies and bodies
Sport England
Sport England is a government body that organises and promotes the provision of facilities both locally and nationally. It looks to encourage participation and performance in sport and recreational activities.
There slogan is “more people, more places, more medals.” They have a mass participation pyramid that relates to the slogan above. Below is what is included on this pyramid.
Gold (at the Olympics, world championships etc)
Elite national groups
National junior squad
Teaching and coaching opportunities
Sport and recreation in a healthier community
Provision for the disabled
National- People with severe learning disabilities compete mainly in netball at a recreational level. Wheelchair users mainly compete at a recreational level but some compete at a national level as well.
Training opportunities for disabled
There are some specific courses available for the disabled- the first course available in introducing the players to netball. The second is aimed at coaches and helps them to understand how coaching the disabled differs from coaching the able bodied players.
There are several variations of netball to help accommodate disabled players.
High five netball- uses full netball rules. This helps the player to discover the roles within the game such as scorer, timekeeper and umpire.
Wheelchair netball- a game that maintains the characteristics of normal netball but has different rules about travelling and playing the ball.
Local- I spoke to Sandhawks, my local club and asked if they had a disabled team and the explained to me that they didn’t have enough people interested. Sandhawks did say that they were planning on sending a coach to receive training from England netball (the course above) if more people showed an interest. The said that if they had more people interested then they would look into the possibilities of having a team and look for local disabled leagues.
Provision for male performers
National- Many of the newspapers have been showing an interest in men participating in netball. It has been reported that men’s netball is the fastest growing sport in the UK and also internationally. Recently a school in Lester campaigned for boys to be allowed to play in primary netball leagues, as previously they hadn’t been allowed, simply due to the fact that they were male.
Local- I was unable to find a club or league in my local area that allowed male players. But my 6th form netball team found a tournament that was mixed and now we are trying to get more fixtures with other 6th forms.
Analysis
Grassroots- Nationally there is a great deal of thought and the ideas run smoothly due to a lack of communication throughout the levels. The stages help find players to find players who are talented and introduce them the higher levels this gives the selectors a greater choice. Locally there isn’t that much aimed at bringing in new players but it does encourage young players to get involved in the sport and show how much fun it can be.
Provision for the elite- in my opinion nationally, this is the best, well catered area in netball. It is well planed and has a strict route to follow and gives lots of opportunities to talented players. Locally, the provision for the elite is good but only if you are already at a high level. It doesn’t do a lot to encourage younger talented players.
Additional agencies and bodies- They seem to be committed to improving the sport and raising the standard of the game.
Provision for the disabled- nationally there seems to be a lot of ideas but not an awful lot of them seem to be actually happening. From my research it seems that disabled people don’t know that much about the sport or the opportunities that are available. England netball is trying to make clubs more aware that disabled people want to play and by doing this it will create more options and interest for disabled players.
Provision for male performers- I don’t think that there is that much interest from men in the sport. I think this because there is so much publicity and provision on ‘male sports’ such as football and rugby that they don’t have the interest as there are so many other opportunities available. This is why I feel that the profile of the game needs to be raised.
