We recently held an inspiring morning of netball skills for Year 5 girls from primary schools around Bath at our Senior School site in Lansdown.

As part of a collaboration with TeamBath, more than 40 Year pupils from Bathford Church School, Bathwick St Mary’s, Oldfield Park Junior School and Weston All Saints CE Primary School took part in the workshop. They learnt fundamental skills, worked on their attacking and defensive play, took part in small-sided games and competed in a round-robin tournament.

The Year 5s benefited hugely from one-to-one coaching and learning skills from a team of netball experts including Natalie Roddy, TeamBath Netball Academy Head coach; Layla Slade, RHSB’s Head of Netball and Assistant Coach for the TeamBath Netball U19 Netball Performance League squad and Ali Wilshire, a member of TeamBath’s Super League squad.

As part of the workshop, the coaches also shared their experiences of what it was like to play competitively and highlighted the values of team-work and wellbeing. It was a great opportunity for the Year 5 girls to hear at first-hand from these fantastic female role models and positive sports professionals.

Layla Slade, RHSB’s Head of Netball said "We were delighted at the response from the schools and the girls themselves. It was a really fun morning for a range of abilities with many promising netballers taking part in a variety of skills and match play. The girls especially enjoyed the mini-tournament at the end. We hope this will help inspire and grow the pupils’ abilities and passion for the game, and in the longer-term, benefit their school teams as they apply what they have learned back at school."