MAY NEWSLETTER
NEWSLETTER – May 2022
Dear Parents & Players,
It’s been another very busy couple of months at Panthers, with LOADS of match play for all of our teams in tournaments, friendly leagues and Wavell.
BRING A FRIEND WEEK @ PANTHERS
We are always looking at creative ways to not only spread the word about Panthers but also to make our club a fun and friendly place for all of our players. We will be holding an Open Week in all training sessions during the week of 20th June, where any player can bring along a friend to take part in a fun training session with Panthers for FREE! You can bring along netball playing friends, friends who have literally no netball experience at all, siblings or other family members and we will have a great fun training session together. Friends will have the opportunity to join Panthers if they wish, but no pressure, this is just a taster of what Panthers can offer.
HOME GROWN TALENT
Not only do we have our home grown trainee umpires, but we are also growing our own coaching talent with our young assistant coaches who are currently assisting at training each week for our younger players. These young coaches will gain lots of important skills that they will need not just to coach more formally, but for life! We have plenty of coaching opportunities for our older girls if they would like to get involved, please just let us know!
Annabelle Windows, Assistant coach at the U11/U10 training evening, says; ‘I love watching the team develop and grow, and it helps my own game as I learn how to breakdown the moves, positions and drills.’
CONGRATULATIONS to our future home grown umpires - Emma Wilding, Scarlet Twigge-Molecey and Isabella Arslan who have completed their England Netball on-line INTO Officiating courses and to Isobel Tarbutt for completing the C Grade on-line course – all of them are in the process or will shortly be assessed by Hampshire county – AMAZING – Well done!
DID YOU KNOW????
ENGLAND NETBALL PATHWAY - We are very proud of our Panthers girls who have been selected for County or franchise academies over the past few years. Well done to Charlotte, Zoe and Ellie representing Surrey in the County Pathway Tournament this year, with Surrey 1 WINNING the
tournament versus 20 county teams from across the country! Another big shout out to Lucy who won the ‘Most Improved Player’ Award at her London Pulse Hub this year!
Tournaments – home and away!
It is a testament to how Panthers are doing that we have been lucky enough to be invited and to take part in many tournaments this spring/summer by so many other clubs, more so than ever before -both locally at Wavell, and further afield in Basingstoke and Southampton. The purpose of these tournaments is to provide friendly, competitive and fun match play for our players. It is a great opportunity and experience for all our players and for Panthers as a club to be seen by and be a part of the wider netball community. These tournaments are very time consuming, require a lot of organisation (behind the scenes) by both our committee members and wonderful volunteer parent helpers (Team managers) and can be expensive to run. The average team entrance fee is £40.00 (per team) and additionally umpires and coaches are required to be paid. Therefore, moving forward and to ensure that we get the full commitment of our teams to attend, we will be requesting a modest entrance fee. This is a similar practice to the regional and county matches where fees are paid in addition to the normal club netball. Note there will not be a charge for our own Panthers Elite tournaments.
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to our U16’s and our U11’s Team, both of whom WON their respective age group tournaments at Hatch Warren Tigers Tournament in Basingstoke on 24th April.
DIARY DATES / UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
We hope you still have plenty of space in your summer diaries:
- Panther’s Elite Tournaments (hosted by us) @ Wavell
- 25th June (last one this season!) will re-commence from September onwards!
- Rushmoor Tournament @ Wavell
- 14th May – U11, U12 & U13 o 15th May – U14, U15 & U16.
- Weston Park Blades Tournament @ Southampton o 15th May – U11’s
- SNA Summer County League @ Southampton o 28th May – U11 and U13
- Dreams Tournament @ Southampton
We do have a few more invites that we are considering and further information will follow IF we can accommodate our attendance.
If there are any business’ out there looking to sponsor a worthy netball club, Panthers would appreciate your help to purchase new equipment – balls, bibs, post pads, specialised training equipment. Please get in touch via panthersElite@outlook.com.
WE NEED YOU!
We have SO many plans for Panthers, but need support from YOU to make it all happen! Roles available include;
– booking training venues.
– arranging our teams entry into leagues, reporting results and booking courts.
TRAINING & COURSES COORDINATOR – looking at club training needs, sourcing and booking relevant courses for relevant people.
VENUE COORDINATOR
WAVELL COORDINATOR
ADULT NETBALL
We had 30 players attend our adult trials for the club. 5 friendlies have been played over the last 2 months. We have 3 teams entering the Wavell summer league and we are going from strength to strength.
Did you play netball years ago? Do you watch your child play and wish you could join in? Do you want to improve your fitness and be part of a fun and happy team? Then please get in touch.
First two sessions are completely FREE!
You are also able to join our adults for just training (fitness) for fun!
SPORTS SOCKS GOOD! – TRAINER/ANKLE SOCKS BAD! New moto!
Please do not underestimate the importance of a good pair of sports socks. Your netball socks should come up over the ankle and be firm, but not tight. These socks (and not ankle/trainer socks provide the best support for netball activities as they not only provide additional ankle support, but the firm pressure of the sock on the ankle also sends a passive message to the brain reminding us cushion our landings and helps to avoid ankle and knee injuries. Swap the ankle socks for sports socks!
PANTHERS WEBSITE
Our website is now updated monthly and everything you need to know can be found there. Please make sure you are following us across all our social media accounts and let us know if you have any suggestions or items you wish us to add.
THANK YOU.
::: Follow Us :::
For all the latest on Panthers, teams, matches, results and news; Website: www.Pantherselitenetball.com
Facebook; PanthersEliteNetballClub
Instagram; @panthers_elite_netball_club
Twitter; @PanthersEliteNC
Email; PanthersElite@outlook.com
Whatsapp; 07788192102
MARCH NEWSLETTER
NEWSLETTER - March 2022
Dear Parents & Players,
It’s been another very busy month at Panthers, with the County & Regional leagues coming to an end, summer leagues about to begin, trials starting and upcoming tournaments galore. Behind the scenes we are working hard to get our players lots of court time over the summer as well as preparing for next season which starts in September!
HOME GROWN TALENT
We hope that you have seen our adverts on social media for coaches (if not, please see below for how to follow us and please like and share the ads when you see them.) We are happy to report that we are in talks with potential candidates whilst also focusing on the future and developing our own home grown coaches and umpires alike.
We are delighted that this summer we have LOTS of our own girls training as umpires. Once they have completed two sets of online training, they will be assessed in practice before being let loose on matches at friendly and local level. Our current umpires have already started mentoring these girls, with several, including those pictured, starting their training with super Umpire Ally at our tournament on Saturday 12th March @ Wavell. In time, these young umpires might choose to go onto their advanced qualification so that they can umpire at County and Regional level, but in the meantime we will keep you up to date on their journey.
CONGRATULATIONS to Scarlett Arslan who passed her ‘Into Officiating’ umpire course this month!
CONGRATULATIONS to Rosie & Ellie (U11) and Lottie & Isla (U12) who have been nominated to attend Surrey County netball workshops. The girls will attend three workshops each in May and June. This invaluable experience will give the girls a great introduction to the England Netball pathway.
We also have five youth trainees embarking on their coaching journey who are working with our fantastic coaching team. We will introduce them in our next newsletter, so please keep reading.
INTERVIEW WITH EMMA WILDING, HEAD COACH
Q; Hi Emma, tell us about your netball career and how you came to be such an AWESOME coach?
I started playing netball when I was 9 years old, I didn’t really know much about it before then other than the skirts were pleated and there was pivoting. After my first session I was hooked, it was all I wanted to do and luckily, I went to a school which had a very strong netball programme (I had to go to school on Saturday’s and the afternoons were filled with sport which made me a happy Emma!) My highlight of youth netball was playing at Crystal Palace in a huge tournament – it was daunting, it was overwhelming, but it was also magical and exciting. Playing in a squad that had the same mindset, same sense of purpose and same work ethic was amazing – and we smashed it! At that time, I had a coach who was my inspiration, my confidant and my biggest cheerleader, that is something that stayed with me and something I am aspiring to be.
In adulthood I have been incredibly lucky to play social, local, competitive, and regional netball – all of which I loved! My regional playing career ended abruptly following injury, I was playing WD and intercepted a high ball in the circle edge. I managed to successfully intercept the ball and rupture my calf at the same time! That was quite hard for me to deal with, the game I loved was taken away from me and I felt a bit lost. Rehab and recovery took quite some time and my confidence took a hit. I was then asked to coach at the club I played regional netball for – I fell in love with a whole new aspect of the game. I was then asked to coach at Panthers a little over 2 years ago and I can hand on heart say my netball mojo has come back and I couldn’t be happier to have a new role in the netball world. I have even made appearances on court with the adult squads 😉
DID YOU KNOW? You can begin to train as an umpire from the age of 13 and as a coach from the age of 16. These are skills that will carry you through not just your youth but adult life as well as keeping you fit, active and involved in netball. Want to know more? Ask you team manager or coach!
Q; What are your thoughts on this season now it is coming to an end? How have our teams done?
The words which come to mind are courage, resilience, honesty and compassion when I think of the season that has just come to an end. There have been ups and there have been downs, players and parents alike have faced and made difficult decisions throughout the season, and we have said goodbye to some of our Panthers whilst at the same time cultivating the strength and building on the foundations of the club. At the times of uncertainty, it was vital that we came together as a unit, allow players to have their voice and be heard. I truly believe we have ended the season on an absolute high – the teams have played with heart and for each other, they have come together and shown such strength both on and off court with their eyes firmly set on next season ready to build on the successes of the 21/22 season. I couldn’t be more proud of all Panthers players, it’s an honour to be a Panthers Coach.
Q; What about the coming season?
The coming season is all about building on our foundations and facing the season as we finished our last, with passion, determination, and a commitment to play for each other leaving it all on court. Safe to say I am excited to start a new season afresh!
DIARY DATES / UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
We hope you still have plenty of space in your summer diaries as we will be hosting several tournaments and have been invited to several more;
Panther’s Elite Tournaments (hosted by us) @ Wavell
o 2nd April, 7th May and 25th June
o Attended by Western Park Blades, Shooting Stars, Ants and HW Tigers.
HW Tigers Tournament @ Basingstoke
o 24th April – we have 7 x Panthers teams entering! WOW!
Rushmoor Tournament @ Wavell
o 14th May – U11’s, U12’s & U13’s, o 15th May – U14’s, U15’s & U16’s.
- Southampton Summer County League
- Hampshire County have invited us to join in their *NEW* Summer Friendly League this year
to give our teams even more match play experience. We will be discussing this shortly and
potentially submitting teams from all age groups. - Dreams Tournament @ Southampton
- 10th July – more information to follow.
WHO ‘OWNS’ AND RUNS PANTHERS?
Panthers is owned by us all (members) and is run by volunteers, none of whom are paid for their work. The management committee is made up of a Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary with help from our coaches (who are paid) our team managers/coordinators, who do an amazing job of running the day to day fixtures and matches along with our assistant treasurers and other parent helpers.
As you can imagine, coordinating so much is hard work with so few people taking the lead roles, so if you feel you might be able to take on a role, with full support and training, it would be very helpful and means that we can spread the workload and no one needs do too much. We have SO many exciting future plans for Panthers, however, to be able to achieve his we need support from YOU to make it all happen! Roles available include;
– booking training venues.
– arranging our teams entry into the leagues, reporting results and
booking courts.
TRAINING & COURSES COORDINATOR – looking at club training needs, sourcing and booking relevant courses to nurture our home grown talent.
WEBSITE & COMMS COORDINATOR – To write newsletters like THIS and keep the website up to date.
DBS CO-ORDINATOR – Ensuring that all those involved in netball team coaching and management are DBS checked.
VENUE COORDINATOR
WAVELL COORDINATOR
ADULT NETBALL
Did you play netball years ago? Do you watch your daughter play and wish you could join in? Do you want to improve your fitness and be part of a fun and happy team? Then join one of our adult teams!
PLAYERS WANTED – Junior Section
We are actively recruiting players from current years 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. We offer 2 x free trail sessions, so if you know someone who wants to start or continue their netball journey please get in touch!
THANK YOU.
A PS from the team – please be aware of the difference a good quality netball shoe can make to your game. As can proper (over the ankle) socks (not trainer socks)!
::: Follow Us :::
For all the latest on Panthers teams matches, results and news; Facebook; PanthersEliteNetballClub Instagram; @panthers_elite_netball_club Twitter; @PanthersEliteNC Email; PanthersElite@outlook.com Whatsapp; 07788192102
FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
NEWSLETTER - February 2022
Dear Parents & Players,
Welcome to this months (long overdue) newsletter, please be assured that LOTS has been going on in the background here at Panthers, read on to find out what we have been up to and what we are planning for the near future.
PANTHER’S TEAMS;
We now have well over 100 players at Panthers, with LOTS of teams. We have Under 10’s, Under 11’s, Under 12’s, Under 13’s Regional AND County, Under 14’s County, Under 16s Regional AND County along with an adults team. Our teams are currently playing in the Wavell, Hampshire County, making regular trips to Southampton, and the South England Regional Leagues and are pleased to say, all are doing well in their respective leagues despite the challenges faced and we are immensely proud of them all! A special thanks goes out to all our parent helpers across the club enabling all our teams to have their own Team Managers, First Aiders, Scorers and timers at their matches.
Dates are already confirmed for next season’s Regional league trials (11th & 12th June) – we have EVERYTHING crossed for the teams hoping to qualify for their respective regional leagues!
DID YOU KNOW? Panthers are invited to join the Hampshire County League each year? Our invitation to trial for the South Regional Leagues is by virtue of our CAPS accreditation.
WHAT IS ‘CAPS’ ACCREDITATION?
The ‘Club Action Planning Scheme’ (or CAPS) is the national Sport England recognised netball quality accreditation scheme, which ensures high standards and consistent quality for UK netball clubs with Junior sections. Panthers gained CAPS Bronze accreditation in 2020 which means that we can compete in Regional leagues, a great benefit for our players. You can find out more at - England Netball | CAPS
DIARY DATES / UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
We hope you still have plenty of space in your summer diaries as we will be hosting several tournaments ourselves at Wavell and we have been invited to several more by other clubs. Confirmed dates so far are as below:
• Panther’s Elite Tournaments (hosted by us) @ Wavell o 12th March & 2nd April
o Attended by Western Park Blades, Shooting Stars, Rascals, Pass & Play, Ants, HW Tigers so far!
o More dates & clubs TBC, All age groups. • Rushmoor Tournament @ Wavell
o 14th May – U11’s, U12’s & U13’s, o 15th May – U14’s, U15’s & U16’s.
WE NEED YOU
Like all Netball Clubs, Panthers is only able to continue thanks to our team of volunteer parents. We are looking for more parent helpers to help by taking on roles which will make the running of the club much smoother and more consistent. If we all pull together, no job is onerous or time consuming and will secure the club’s future for our wonderful players. The roles we are currently looking to fill include:
– booking training venues.
– arranging our teams’ entry into leagues, reporting results and booking courts.
TRAINING & COURSES COORDINATOR – looking at club training needs, sourcing and booking relevant courses for relevant people.
WEBSITE & COMMS COORDINATOR –to ensure our website is accurate and up to date as well as writing newsletters like THIS!
VENUE COORDINATOR
WAVELL COORDINATOR
COACHES
We will have a further in-depth ‘meet the coach’ section in our next Newsletter.
Like many clubs, both locally and indeed nationally, we are actively looking to recruit Level 2 England Netball qualified coaches. If YOU are a netball coach, or indeed would be interested in training to be a netball coach, please get in touch! Please get the word out regarding this to friends and contacts, and indeed consider signing up yourself to assist, train or coach.
UMPIRES
As a testament to our commitment to growing our own talent, we would like to thank all of our parents and players who have signed up to take umpiring courses this summer. If you are interested in becoming an umpire, please sign up to the ‘Into Officiating’ course here England Netball | Get Started
::: Follow Us :::
For all the latest on Panther’s teams matches, results and news; Facebook; PanthersEliteNetballClub
Instagram; @panthers_elite_netball_club
Twitter; @PanthersEliteNC
Email; PanthersElite@outlook.com
Whatsapp; 07788192102
DID YOU KNOW???? Umpires and coaches are paid positions within Panthers (and indeed all netball clubs) paid at competitive rates!
Finally, thank you for all your patience, we know there has been some uncertainty at Panthers, however, we are making real inroads for securing our future – we are booking our teams in for next season leagues, locally, at County level and at Regional level. We hope to have more teams than ever before competing next season, so please stick with us, and volunteer whatever time you can to help us make the club a success.
THANK YOU.
Your Panthers committee team. Email: PanthersElite@outlook.com