Storrington Netball club reaching for the Stars in first competitive year

The club is a non-profit community ran in Storrington which has been running for more than five years for children in school years four to 10.

From starting in a small tinned roofed building at Brimsby College with a handful of girls, they now have more than 60 girls training every Thursday at Chanctonbury Leisure Centre.

This year the club entering an under-11, under-12 and under-13 team into the local league, took part in tournaments and had plenty of friendlies for the league and development teams.

They have risen up the league and had some close games with the top teams as well as having four girls attend Sussex trials, with one going through to second round as well as another getting through to the third round of Surrey Storm trials.

The club is also committed to improving understanding of the game and some members have attend umpiring courses to develop their understanding of the rules. Club coaches have also secured a number of awards with Helen Courtney scooping the Volunteer of the Year Award at the Sussex Sports Awards.

Head coach Hannah Gibson said: ‘‘This season has been our biggest year without a doubt; we have a great team behind the club that allows us to go from strength to strength.

“The club has grown so much that we are extending Thursday training another hour next year and had buy lots more equipment to facilitate and give the girls the best coaching experience.

“We try to give the players the best learning opportunities by doing holiday camps, workshops and getting guests in to motivate them and this has clearly worked as the dedication by the girls has been amazing.

“At Stars we try and give every player the chance to develop and have fun playing netball and I am extremely proud of what the club has achieved and will continue achieving going forward.

“The coaching team have so many more ideas for next year and welcome new players to join us at any point of the season.

“The club aspires to continue growing next year with hopes of a tour, spectating more elite games, have their coaches and players attend more courses and have numbers grow.”

The Stars also recently ran an inter-schools tournament at Chanctonbury to encourage sport within the community.

Fittleworth School head teacher Graham Bloomfield said: “Our children were really enthused and eager to take part. A number of them had only little prior experience but everyone really enjoyed the friendly, competitive atmosphere. It was extremely well organised and each team played in six matches.”

Stars always welcome new players, for more information, visit their new website www.starsnetballclub.com or email [email protected]