England Netball Excel Player Pathway
To be “Number 1 ranked team in the World” is an organisational goal for England Netball as a National Governing Body. This ambition relies upon dynamic structures and processes for the identification and development of talented players from the early stages of a young players Netball career, through several stages of the England Netball talent pathway, culminating in the elite programmes developed for players in the National squad.
England Netball Talent pathway for young players, recently renamed, “The Netball Excel Pathway”, is the England Netball process for developing athletes with the attributes to attain excellence. The programmes within the pathway are focused on developing athletes to reach their potential and form foundations to enable England Netball to achieve our goal to be “Number 1 Ranked Team in the World”.
The pathway begins at a regional level with Satellite, County and Regional Academies, then moves into the National pathway of Talent 1 and Talent 2, then through to the England U21 squad and the England Squad (See Below).
In the 2009/10 season the Tees Valley has hosted 3 Satellite Academies in Darlington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough and a central County Academy held at Teesside University in Middlesbrough. Nominations were taken from a range of schools across the Tees Valley. This resulted in high ability, competitive screening days officiated by Kelly Hedley, the England Netball Regional Excel Coach, and Barbara Brown the County Head Scout. The final Academies each have squads of 20 girls from the Tees Valley and run over a 10 session period, on a bimonthly basis from November through to March. The feedback from the Excel coaches has been extremely positive. Kelly Hedley, Regional Excel Coach stated,
“I am really pleased with the high quality players entering onto
the Excel pathway through the Satellite and County Academies
in the Tees Valley and across the North East region. I am certain
this is set to continue into the 2010/11 season.”
This success of the Satellite and County Academies will certainly see the Tees Valley well represented with players moving up the Excel pathway gaining places on the North East Regional Academy.
For information on the 2010/11 Academies in the TeesValley, including information on player nominations, please contact Fiona Johnson Netball Development Officer Fiona.johnson@englandnetball.co.uk
