Netball
Our netball programme regularly sees over 250 pupils participating in netball with our teams competing in interschool fixtures on a weekly basis at all ages and entered into National competitions at U12, U13, U14, U16 and U18 year groups.
Preparation for the main netball season in the Lent term starts in September, with a particular focus upon the U14, U16 and U19 squads who participate in the national age group competitions, beginning with the Staffordshire County Schools Tournaments hosted at Denstone in November each year. During the Michaelmas term, pupils have the opportunity to select netball within the Activity programme on Tuesdays (Fourth Form to Upper Sixth) or Thursdays (Lower School) and also in the Sport programme on Mondays and Wednesdays (from Fourth Form upwards). There is also a netball club on Saturday mornings for the First and Second Form pupils, which runs from September to March, whilst the U16 and U19 performance squads train on Friday evenings during the Michaelmas term. All of these sessions are coached by our Director of Netball, where a love of netball alongside improved skills and game understanding are the main objectives. Amy continues to coach at Loughborough Lightning as the U17 National Performance Head Coach and also leads the England Netball Player Development Programme for Staffordshire and is the Lead U15 Coach, and all of our netball players, from the Prep School up to our 1st VII benefit from Amy's experience of performance netball.
Many of our netballers are involved in performance pathways, with a significant number of pupils included in the Staffordshire County Player Development Programme each year, and some progressing to NPL squads and Experience Hubs. For the pupils on performance pathways, we ensure that they are given assistance with their individual programmes, alongside help to manage their commitments and workload. Strength and Conditioning support is provided by our Athletic Development department, working very closely with the netball squads throughout the year.
During the main season in the Lent term, more than 250 pupils regularly participate in school fixtures, from our U9 team in the Prep to our U18 1st VII at the College. As netball is the main school sport during the Lent term, the pupils have netball three times each week within the Sport programme, with all teams receiving a high level of coaching and the programme across all ages and abilities being developed by our specialist netball coaching team. The netball department consists of 14 staff members, all of whom enthusiastically share their experience and knowledge of the game to ensure that the pupils love netball just as much as we do! One of our main objectives is to give as many pupils as possible the chance to represent the school at netball, with our C and D teams playing fixtures whenever opposition schools are able to provide them. Equally, another leading intention for the netball programme at Denstone is to provide pupils with a route to progress, enabling the talented and committed players to be supported in their development.
Performance and Netball CoachMiss A Mountford
Loughborough Lightning U17 National performance League Head Coach
Staffordshire Netball - Pathway lead
West Midlands Coach of the year 2023
