This is a test caption for a photo in the test Gallery on the England Netball site
England Netball are excited to reveal the opening of a fantastic new facility at Stanborough School in Welwyn Garden City.
Stanborough School is the home of the Welwyn Hatfield Netball League, and their outdoor facility has now been transformed into a dedicated netball centre with 9 floodlit courts, brand new surface, fencing and posts.
As well as being a valuable venue for grass roots netball development, it is now the Hertfordshire County Netball Centre and is set to host a variety of County, Regional and National competitions.
The project was completed on Friday 20th May and with the lines freshly painted, the facility was opened to the netball community on Saturday 21st May.
Helen Wynn, Director of Development, England Netball, Tim Braybrook, Deputy Head teacher, Stanborough School and Georgina Fisher, England and Mavericks netball player officially marked the occasion.
Other players from the Hertfordshire Mavericks Vitality Netball Superleague squad joined George Fisher as the facilities were used for their End of Season Tournament which was contested across the weekend.
Players Samantha May, Sophie Hankin, Steph Collard, Michelle Drayne and Sophie Carter attended the tournament, cheering on all competing teams and meeting the players.
On Saturday, junior teams from across the region competed in U12, U14 and U16 age-groups in a round-robin event with semi-finals and finals to cap off the day.
On Sunday, Back to Netball teams also took to court in a round-robin format, as did Open squads in what was a fantastic weekend of netball.
The winners from both days of the tournament are as follows:
Junior Tournament –
U12 – Clan
U14 – MK Netters
U16 – Clan
Adult Open –
Hertford Hornets
Back To Netball –
Berko Belles
The facility was officially opened to Stanborough School the evening of Tuesday 24th June when the occasion was marked by a fun student vs staff fixture!
The key funding partners were England Netball, Sport England (This funding was provided by HM Exchequer as part of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport investment to Sport England and delivered in partnership with England Netball) and Welwyn Hatfield Council.
The venue will look to drive increasing levels of participation in netball at all ages as well as improve people’s satisfaction with the provision of high standard courts.
It is with great pleasure that England Netball have been able to support this project in Hertfordshire and hope that new, existing, young and more mature enjoy it for many years to come.
The new facility represents a partnership that England Netball have built up with Stanborough School who together with the financial support of Sport England, Welywn Hatfield Council, parents, local netball players and local sponsors, have worked extremely hard to make the project happen.
Thank you to Stanborough School and all of these partners who have supported our sport and shared in our vision to grow the game, provide a first class experience and make us number one in the World.
