After the last two disjointed seasons, it was both refreshing and exciting to see so many players and parents support the club and return to the court for the 2021/22 season.

After much hard work to secure a suitable indoor venue, we finally achieved this in September 2021, and this has made a big difference to both our junior and senior training sessions. We have had the benefit of a storage space, a sprung floor and have not had to cancel sessions due to adverse weather or exams as we have had to in the past. I think everyone will agree, this has been a hugely positive move for the club, and we look forward to continue building our partnership with St Mary’s Sports Club as we continue to next season.

The club has continued to thrive this season, particularly with many new players joining our junior section, and we had over 100 members at the end of the season. This really reflects the high-quality coaching that Sally provides, plus the hard work and dedication of the Committee and young volunteers which we really appreciate – thank you all!

Considering we had all been away from the game for so long, we had some great results across all teams this season. We were the only team to beat top of the league in Swindon, Lightning improved week on week with a run of 7 wins towards the end of the season, Storm had some nail biting games winning by one goal on some occasions finishing an impressive 3rd, and Thunder had a strong mix of youth and experience to pull some huge wins out of the bag, also finishing 3rd in their division.

We entered the U14’s into the South West Regional League for the first time in the history of the club, and despite it being tough and completely new territory we are so proud of them for the performances that they put out, and grateful for all the parent support travelling as far as Truro for our last game – It was a great experience for the girls and we hope to continue this and trial for a place in the U16 Regional League for the 22/23 season.

We have been promoting the virtual umpiring courses provided by England Netball this season, and so far we have funded eight youth players from the club to complete the Into Officiating course, and three have successfully gained the qualification. This is extremely admirable at their young age as we need umpires to be able to enter teams into the leagues, so a big thank you and well done to all those players who have put themselves forward, and congratulations to those that are already actively umpiring. England Netball should be releasing more virtual courses around the time of the Commonwealth Games, so please let us know if this is something you may be interested in.

Thank you to everyone that attended our fundraising quiz in May. It was great to finally be able to hold an event again and an enjoyable time was had by all, raising a staggering £501.74 for the club! A huge thank you to everyone who helped organise the event and raffle as the evening was a huge success!

We will be starting to send membership registration details for the upcoming 2022/23 season following this meeting. This will be a google form as we are trying to collect all information electronically and this will include next of kin and medical details as well as your playing preferences for next season, so please make sure that you take the time to read and complete all documentation so you are ready to go in September.

For those that are new to the club, there is a one-off annual membership payment that needs to be made directly to England Netball in August, and we will send details of how to make this payment as soon as England Netball enables new memberships on the ENgage website.

Training Payments are to be made directly to the club by monthly Direct Debit via our Website. You will receive a prompt to set this up during August, but no money will be taken until 1st September. Please contact Lisa if you have any queries regarding fees.

Lastly, the majority of the current Storm team are heading off to university in September. I would like to wish them all the very best of luck from us all at the club, and hope that you will all keep playing netball at Uni - Pop in and train with us whenever you are back in Calne, you will always be very welcome!

Here’s hoping for a successful 2022/23 season for our club.

Enjoy the summer and I look forward to seeing you all in September. 

Lucy Adams