England Netball’s historic series victory over top-ranked world
champions Australia could be the first of many test series wins for
our national team, thanks to Sport England’s long-term investment
in the sport.
Netball is one of the three non-Olympic sports to receive Sport
England funding to support its elite and high performance
programme, in addition to funding for its talent development and
participation programmes.
Of the £17.66 million Sport England invested in netball between
2009-2013, £3.9 million was allocated to support its elite and high
performance programme.
This helped to fund national squad training camps, domestic and
international competitions; coaches and coaching, sports science
and sports medicine provision, as well as contributing to
individual athlete costs.
At the same time, the next generation of star players were
cultivated with a ring-fenced investment of £2.67 million. This
supported more than 3,500 young talented players at local, county,
regional and England under 17 and under 19 levels.
The sports strong growth over this period, with almost 160,000
people now playing netball every week – over 40,000 more than in
2008 - resulted in an increased investment for England Netball.
Over the next four years we’ll invest £25 million into the
sport, including £5 million to support the high performance and
senior elite squad, and £3.5 million for talent development.
The increased investment will allow England Netball to offer
more intensive support, training and competition to our
netballers.
“England Netball has already proved it can increase the number
of women playing at grassroots level, “said Lisa O’Keefe, Sport
England’s Director of Sport. “And with similar success on the world
stage, the sport’s future looks good.”