For netballers in Scotland – the joy of playing, the bonds formed with teammates, and the opportunities for growth and competition make our leagues a cherished part of the netball community. Through local leagues, players not only embrace the physical and mental aspects of the sport but also contribute to its vibrant culture, ensuring that netball continues to thrive for generations to come.

Kinross netball club is a standout example of this vibrancy and has recently celebrated the success of its second annual Outdoor Junior Charity Festival.

Speaking to Elaine Stapleton who runs Kinross Netball club, she explains.
“It was so good to see so many young netballers enjoying the festival with their coaches, teammates, and family supporters. It really brings our club together within the community to showcase netball.”

“The basis of our club is friendship, we have over 15 of our juniors’ mums playing in our league teams/social sessions and helping at our junior sessions. We really are a netball family.”

A great day out for the whole family and something the whole community can get involved in.

The feedback from the first event was so good that we have decided to make it an annual event, everyone has so much fun, it’s a brilliant way to interact with all the other teams and make new connections. This year we hosted all age groups from Primary through to our U17’s. We had an amazing 42 teams playing throughout the day over 3 courts.

“We have a great viewing area for the families to watch and enjoy the day, with some activity stalls, music playing, home baking and good banter on the mic from the main desk.”
“We encourage as many of our members as possible to help on the day and get involved. We are committed to the development of netball in our area, and it is important to let our local community see our sport being played. We have the older age groups helping with the younger ones and scoring the games, as well as opportunity for our umpires to gain practice.”

Looking ahead to next year Elaine says,
“As well as planning to host the Junior Festival again, we’d like to look at hosting a Senior Summer League next year. Our plans are to have the lines redone as they are poor, the 3 outdoor courts are full size, and we are lucky to have this facility on our doorstep.”
Local leagues and events serve as the beating heart of netball communities, offering a vibrant and inclusive space for players of all ages and skill levels to come together in their shared passion.

“The more we promote Netball in our area, the more people of all ages and ability will want to play and our aim is to make sure they do! Kinross Netball Club is continuing to grow and we are committed to the development of our umpires and coaching team to ensure that our club can be the best it can be.”

Want to get involved in social netball this winter? Entries to All Nations mixed and ladies leagues are open to teams, small groups and individuals. Everyone is welcome, regardless of netball experience.

GLASGOW
• Mixed netball leagues
• Free mixed taster sessions
• Tuesday evenings at Glasgow Club Tollcross

EDINBURGH
• Ladies and mixed netball leagues
• Monday and Tuesday evenings at Westwoods Health Club

If you’d like to join any of the above just drop them an email at allnationsnetball@gmail.com.

At the start of Women and Girls in Sport Week, Netball Scotland and Young Scot forged a new partnership to provide young people with more access to positive experiences that can improve their health and wellbeing. 

Netball Scotland and Young Scot have teamed up to give Young Scot National Entitlement Card (Young Scot NEC) holders exclusive access to discounted tickets, volunteering opportunities and rewards.

In line with the focus of this year’s Women and Girls in Sport Week, which shines a light on partnerships that help to break down barriers for women and girls, the new partnership will help incentivise young people to participate with Netball Scotland and take part in various experiences in their local area, by earning Young Scot Membership Reward points.

This collaboration will open up more volunteering opportunities for young people to engage with netball – including Strathclyde Sirens, Scottish Thistles and local club events. Young people will also gain access to discounted tickets for Netball Scotland events, including subsidised tickets for young people who are signed up to entitlement Young Scot packages, such as young carers.

Claire Nelson, Netball Scotland CEO, said: “Netball Scotland’s strategic partnership with Young Scot is game-changing for both netball and the young people of Scotland.

“We are excited to collaborate and showcase netball as a sport that gives more than just the game. We aim to provide young people with the tools and confidence to enjoy positive mental health and wellbeing through physical activity across all stages of their lives – and it starts as a Young Scot.

“The ability to speak directly to this cohort is critical now more than ever, and Netball Scotland are ready to play our part.”

Young Scot CEO Kirsten Urquhart said: “I am delighted to be celebrating the Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week by announcing this exciting new partnership with Netball Scotland. Both organisations are looking forward to working together to ensure young people have access to positive experiences that improve their health and wellbeing and provide spaces where they can connect and have fun!

“It is imperative that we all work towards eliminating barriers for all young people. By creating these opportunities to work collaboratively, we are continuing to open up healthy, local, active experiences for young people via the Young Scot NEC with discounts, rewards and opportunities.”

The Young Scot Rewards programme encourages young people to be active citizens by rewarding them for taking part in positive activities. All 12 to 26-year-olds in Scotland can use their Young Scot National Entitlement Card (Young Scot NEC) number to sign up as a Member for free at young.scot and access Young Scot Rewards. Every young person living in Scotland is entitled to a free Young Scot NEC so there are no financial barriers to taking part. Once they’re signed up at young.scot, young people can take part in lots of different types of activities and earn Young Scot Rewards points.

Netball Scotland has today announced that they have been awarded the rights to host the European Netball World Cup Qualifiers 2022 (ENWCQ 2022).

The tournament, showcasing 6 European Nations, will take place in Emirates Arena, Glasgow across 14th-18th October 2022 inclusive.

The competing Nations – Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Wales, Gibraltar and Isle of Man – will be fighting it out to qualify for the Netball World Cup 2023 hosted by South Africa.

Claire Nelson, CEO of Netball Scotland said: “We are delighted to have been awarded hosting rights for the European Netball World Cup Qualifiers in 2022. The pinnacle of the global netballing calendar, the Netball World Cup is the event that all nations strive to qualify for and compete at, so being able to have the backing of our home crowd as we take on the rest of Europe gives us an important advantage.

Here in Scotland we have built a strong reputation for delivering world-class events and we look forward to working with the City of Glasgow and key Partners to ensure that we put on an exceptional Qualifiers for teams, fans and global netball audiences.”

This news is welcomed by Scotland fans who were treated to two convincing wins by Scottish Thistles over Barbados Bajan Gems in their recent test matches.

World Netball President, Liz Nicholl said: “This is a really important event in the netball calendar and following Netball Scotland’s successful hosting of a test series earlier this month, I have no doubt they will put on a fantastic event.”

Scottish Thistles Head Coach, Tamsin Greenway commented: “The World Cup Qualifiers next year are huge for us, so to be able to host these in Scotland is very exciting news. We look forward to welcoming the other nations and putting on a strong performance both on and off the court.”

A total of 16 nations will progress to the Netball World Cup 2023, England having already secured their place means only 2 from the ENWCQ will make the top 16.

Netball Europe Chair, Catherine Lewis is looking forward to seeing who will claim the remaining two slots: “International Netball is gearing up as we work our way through the COVID-19 Pandemic. It only feels like yesterday that we were watching the Vitality Netball World Cup in Liverpool in 2019 but preparations have been well underway for the 2023 World Cup in South Africa. England will qualify by virtue of their current world ranking leaving two more places for European teams to be at the netball top table event. This netball WCQ is a showcase of the fantastic netball we have in Europe and with a good luck to all the participating teams we look forward to seeing who will take the remaining two slots and the flights out to Cape Town, South Africa!”

Returning to her Captaincy earlier this year, Claire Maxwell stated: ‘The World Cup Qualifiers are a crucial event in the Scottish Thistle’s Calendar. We are delighted that we will have the support of the #ThistlesArmy in Scotland for this pivotal event.”

More information on tickets for the 5-day event will be released in the new year.

Netball Scotland are thrilled to launch our very first Academic Partnership with St George’s School, Edinburgh.

This exciting collaboration is a first of its kind for Netball Scotland and one that will see us work together with St George’s to increase community participation in netball and engage with more young people as we continue to promote the many benefits of sport to overall health and wellbeing.

St George’s have already played an instrumental role in the restart of netball in Edinburgh by opening their doors and the access to their fantastic outdoor netball facilities to some of the existing netball community. Joining forces with the highly regarded girls’ day and boarding school allows us the opportunity to further collaborate and open up more opportunities to engage with and inspire young people through the power of sport.

Clare Nelson, CEO of Netball Scotland;

“I am immensely proud of this new partnership with St. George’s – a partnership which I hope will create a powerful model for how we grow and develop as a sport through young people, education and communities. This partnership reflects our commitment to using our platform and power as a sport to engage with, educate, empower and inspire the next generation of leaders, athletes, volunteers and game changers who are needed to build a better, fairer and more equal world for all, in and outside of sport.”

Geraldine McGuire, Head of Development, Netball Scotland;

“We are very much looking forward to activating our first Academic Partnership with St George’s School for Girls.  Together we are fully committed to using sport and physical activity to intentionally bring about positive change for individuals and communities.  Combining our knowledge and expertise in netball and the education sector, this is an exciting opportunity for us to make a positive impact on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of both the girls at St George’s and members of the wider community.”

Alex Hems, Head of St George’s School, Edinburgh;

“This partnership with Netball Scotland is an exciting step forward for St George’s. We are delighted to have this chance to combine expertise and experience with such a dynamic governing body, to open up opportunities for access to netball for women and girls across Scotland. Together I am sure we can be significant change-makers in the game and in education. This is an inspiring and important new era for empowering girls through sport.”

Mel Benson, Head of Lower School & Community Engagement, St George’s School;

“It has been so rewarding working with Netball Scotland to help restart the sport on the back of the pandemic. We are passionate about opening our doors and creating and facilitating as many opportunities as possible for girls, women and the wider community to play, compete and enjoy the sport netball. With a very active programme already in place, we are very much looking forward to unlocking further opportunities under the 3 strands; Women & Girls, Education and Community.”

Following a recruitment campaign in April 2021 which attracted athletes from all World Netball Regions, Scottish Thistles and Strathclyde Sirens Athlete, Emily Nicholl was successfully selected to join the first World Netball ‘Voice of the Athlete’ group.

Under its core strategic pillar, ‘Govern’, World Netball highlights the importance of working collaboratively with those that live and breathe netball every day in order to develop the sport. The Voice of the Athlete Working Group will begin this process by working together throughout 2021 to determine a suitable framework for a future Athletes Commission, which will be established following recommendations by the Working Group to the World Netball Board.

The Working Group consists of current international athletes with at least 3-years’ international playing experience and have been endorsed by their Member/Regional Federation or Executive Board. The athletes have been selected to ensure representation across the 5 World Netball Regions across teams ranked 1-5, 6-20, and 21+.

For more information on the World Netball ‘Voice of the Athlete’ Working Group herd to the website here – https://netball.sport/archives/20208