Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) is a time for us to come together and thank all volunteers for their invaluable contributions and making a huge difference to our netball community, especially over a particularly challenging last 12 months.
An estimated 26,000 volunteers across a variety of different disciplines help make our sport happen, enriching lives through netball.
England Netball simply would not exist without volunteers with most of the 2,500+ clubs, several hundred leagues, 53 counties and nine regions organised by netball volunteers, who give a huge amount of time and energy freely to our sport.
A network of over 2,500 COVID-19 Officers have enabled netball to restart with 800 people who were not already involved as volunteers stepping forward to give their time in this critical role.
Through our celebrations for Volunteers’ Week 2021, we’re aiming to increase visibility of the vital efforts that all volunteers have made this year, continue ‘building a movement’ by inspiring more people to explore how they might like to get involved, and focus on the unspoken thank you which deserves to be brought to light.
Over the course of the week (1-7 June), we’ll be sharing the stories of some incredible members of the Netball Family who all volunteer in different ways…
| Linda Andrews (South West) | President of Jersey committee and performance coach |
| Ellie Mills (Yorkshire) | Youth Leader – volunteer coach and chairperson for Yorkshire Netball Youth Board |
| Issy Farrell (South West) | Youth Leader |
| Dipesh Patel (London & SE) | Disciplinary Secretary |
| Pat Percy (North East) | Technical Official / Bench Manager |
| Helen Thorneloe (Yorkshire) | Established one of the first Core Inclusive Clubs |
| Farrah Jaura (North West) | Vitality Netball Superleague and grassroots umpire |
| Chrissy Bannerman & Sharon Duffield (South) | Co-Founders of Gemini Netball Club |
Make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to see all the brilliant stories.
The Netball Show, hosted by volunteer and 2020 Vitality Goalden Globe Awards Rose Award winner Andy Lamb, have also been speaking to some very special volunteers. If you like to indulge in a podcast or two, tune in and give them a listen – The Netball Show | Podcast on Spotify.
Customisable graphics – “Say a special thank you” or “Share why you volunteer”
To help say thank you, we have created a bespoke set of assets for the Netball Family to use which includes editable templates to share a sentence about, and show your appreciation for, a volunteer (or volunteers).
To raise awareness of individuals’ passion and motivations for netball volunteering, as well as help inspire more people to get involved, we’d love volunteers to share their ‘why’ using a tailor-made graphic.
You can access the resources, which can be used all year round, here.
Volunteer Strategy
“Building a movement, empowering volunteers to enrich lives through netball”
Over several years we have developed a strategic plan to inspire, connect and engage with the netball volunteering community, which will also help in encouraging even more people to dedicate their time to supporting netball throughout the country.
Back in December 2019, the first volunteering focused strategy was introduced at England Netball with the aim of building a movement, empowering volunteers to enrich lives through netball.
To see the full strategy and the work England Netball are doing to inspire volunteers, click here.
